ALEXANDER  WYANT 


BY  ELIOT  CLARK 


I 


Digitized 

by  the  Internet  Archive 

i 

in  2013 

http://archive.org/details/alexwyantOOclar 


VIIJJIM  DV  HOITD-IJJOO 


EARLY  MORNING 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  EMERSON  MC  MILLIN 
Canvas.    37  inches  high,  50  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  left,  A.  H.  Wyant 


ALEXANDER  WYANT 


BY 

Eliot  Clark 


New  York 
PRIVATELY  PRINTED 

MCMXVI 


Copyright,  1916 
by 

ederic  Faircliild  Sherman 


To  MY  FATHER 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Early  Morning  Frontispiece 

Irisk  Landscape   P^gs  12 

Noon  Mark,  Adirondacks   ''12 

In  tke  Still  Forest   ''16 

Mountain  Brook   ""22 

Trout  Stream   ''22 

Tke  Mokawk  Valley   ''3° 

An  Old  Clearing   ''34 

Passing  Clouds   ''42 

ASunktVale   ''46 

Landscape   '"''54 

Driving  Mist   ''54 

Tke  End  of  Summer   ''bo 

Sunset   64 

Autumn  in  tke  Adirondacks    ....  ''■64 


ALEXANDER  WYANT 


ALEXANDER  WYANT 


PART  ONE 

LEXANDER  HELWIG  WYANT 
was  born  at  Evans  Creek,  Tuscaras 
was  Co.,  Ohio,  on  January  i  itK  in  the 
year  1836.  His  father,  born  in  Penn? 
sylvaniain  1814,  was  a  typical  Amers 
ican;  hismother  was  a  native  of  Evans 
Creek,  born  in  181 7.  Shortly  after  the  birth  of  their 
son  the  family  moved  to  Defiance,  Ohio,  not  far  dis? 
tant,  and  here  the  young  Wyant  was  sent  to  the  vils 
lage  school. 

We  may  imagine  that  the  early  Ufe  and  environ* 
ment  of  our  painter  was  very  simple  and  primitive. 
Far  from  the  complex  sensations  of  city  life,  its  noise 
and  activity,  its  passion  and  competition,  his  early 
impressions  must  have  been  of  the  quiet  and  peace  of 
nature,  of  the  ch  angmg  seasons,  of  the  grass,  the  flow? 
ers  and  the  smell  of  the  earth.  But  whereas  to  the 
sensitive  soul  nature  whispers  her  secrets  and  unfolds 
her  beauties,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  any  direct 
artistic  impulse  or  stimulant  in  this  little  isolated  town 
of  Ohio.  W^e  therefore  conclude  that  his  desire  to  ex= 
press  himself  in  pictorial  form  was  quite  spontaneous. 

It  is  said  that  as  a  little  boy,  lying  before  the  open 
fire,  he  would  endeavor  to  describe  in  charcoal  his  in- 


9 


fantine  images.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  great  trial  later 
to  be  apprenticed  to  a  harness  maker.  However  be 
was  not  to  be  enslaved,  and  altbougb  tbe  only  models 
to  inspire  bis  youtbful  ambition  and  excite  bis  imagin? 
ation  were  tbe  crudely  colored  cbromos  and  infer? 
ior  engravings  peddled  tbrougb  tbe  countryside,  be 
nevertbeless  determined  to  become  a  painter. 

Tbe  impulse  was  furtber  strengthened  in  seeing 
some  pictures  by  George  Inness  wbile  on  a  visit  to 
Cincinnati  in  1857.  Wyant  determined  to  meet  tbis 
painter  and  ask  bis  advice.  It  required  strong  initia* 
tive  and  self?confidence  to  make  tbe  long  trip  to  New 
York,  but  tbe  encouragement  given  bim  by  Inness 
and  tbe  opportunity  of  seeing  otber  pidlures,  mark 
tbe  first  decided  step  in  bis  career. 

Returning  to  Cincinnati,  be  immediately  sougbt 
tbe  means  to  fulfiU  bis  cb  erisbed  desire  and  fortunate? 
ly  found  material  assistance  from  one  interested  in 
tbe  Arts,  Nicholas  Longwortb.  Tbus  be  was  ena? 
bled  to  return  to  New  York,  wbere  we  find  bim  rep^ 
resented  in  tbe  Academy  exhibition  of  1 864 .  A  year 
later  he  sailed  for  Germany  to  continue  his  art  educa? 
tion. 

The  Dusseldorf  school  having  found  favor  and  pat? 
ronage  in  America,  in  1863  a  large  collection  of  tbe 
work  by  these  painters  was  brought  together  at  great 
expense  and  exhibited  in  New  York,  where  it  was 
received  with  much  enthusiasm.  In  this  exhibition 
there  was  a  typical  canvas  of  Hans  Gude,  of  moun? 
tains  and  waterfall.  It  was  most  probably  that  picture 

10 


wKicK  incited  V/yant  to  seek  tkis  master  for  instruc? 
tion.  Altkougk  kis  stay  witk  Hans  Gude  at  Carlsruke 
was  most  pleasant,  for  ke  was  received  witk  kindness 
and  kospitakty,  tke  artistic  influence  could  not  kave 
keen  altogetker  a  sympatketic  one.  Wyant  was  seek* 
ing  a  more  personal  form  of  expression.  His  study 
under  Gude  was  in  consequence  not  long  continued. 

Before  returning  to  America,  \Vyant  made  a  skort 
visit  to  England  and  Ireland.  In  London  ke  undoukt* 
edly  enjoyed  seeing  tke  pictures  in  tke  National  Gal? 
lery,  but  kis  intense  and  passionate  interest  in  land* 
scape,  precluded  a  close  study  of  tke  old  masters.  Tur? 
ner  seemed  to  leave  no  memory  in  kis  later  pictures. 
His  color  was  too  intense,  too  unnatural,  kis  composi? 
tion  skowing  too  muck  of  classical  artifice.  In  skort 
Turner  was  too  visionary,  romantic  and  over  emo* 
tional,  for  our  young  painter  wkose  memory  was 
fresh,  witk  tke  natural  ckarm  of  kis  native  land.  To 
tkis  slender  young  man,  reticent  and  unassuming, 
brougktup  in  a  little  country  town  in  America,  wkose 
knowledge  of  cities  kad  keen  acquired  merely  during 
skort  visits,  wkose  religion  was  nature  and  tke  natural, 
a  true  pantkeist  (witkout  tke  affectation  of  tke  name) 
tke  sumptuous  treasures  of  tke  National  Gallery,  tke 
result  of  generations  of  culture  and  sopkisticated 
tkougkt,  must  kave  seemed  studied  and  somewkat  un? 
real .  V/e  can  imagine  kim  standing  simply  and  naively 
before  tke  pictures  of  Constable,  and  seeing  in  tkis 
master  a  kindred  spirit. 

\Vyant  was  too  muck  intere^ed  in  tke  ^udy  of 


II 


nature  at  this  period  to  loiter  long  in  the  cities.  The 
pidtures  and  records  oftKe  trip  in  Ireland  bear  witness 
to  this  facfl .  They  show  a  very  keen  observation  of  the 
forms  of  nature,  an  endeavor  to  ^udy  and  render  the 
simple  fadls.  It  was  this  desire  which  prompted  him 
to  return  to  his  native  land,  feeHng  more  Wrongly 
drawn  to  the  country  which  had  fir^  awakened  his 
inspiration,  its  early  associations  and  its  natural 
beauty. 

In  1868  Wyant  was  eledled  an  associate  of  the 
National  Academy  and  the  following  year  a  full  mem? 
ber  on  his  pidlure  of  ''The  Upper  Susquehanna." 
Notwith^anding  this  gratifying  appreciation  of  his 
work,  the  material  trials  of  maintenance  were  severe. 
In  1873  he  was  led  to  join  a  Government  expedition 
bound  for  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  thinking  that 
in  this  way  he  might  have  an  opportunity  of  ^udy? 
ing  nature  and  living  out  of  doors.  The  West  was 
then  the  land  of  promise,  its  great  scenic  landscape, 
partly  fabulous  and  fanciful,  was  much  talked  of  and 
magnified.  Albert  Bier^adt  had  shown  its  pidlorial 
possibilities,  which  offered  a  vehicle  for  expression 
thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  panoramic  land? 
scape  of  Dusseldorf.  Bier^adt  had  made  a  trip  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  under  General  Lander  as  early  as 
1858,  and  others,  among  them  Walter  Shirlaw  and 
Thomas  Moran,  were  induced  to  follow  his  example. 
Wyant  was  unfortunate  in  selecting  his  party,  the 
commander  of  which  was  very  harsh  and  severe. 
The  hardship  was  intense.    Under  such  conditions 


12 


IRISH  LANDSCAPE 

COLLECTION  OF  MR.  ADRIAN  VAN  SINDEREN 

Canvas.    14  inches  high,  20  inches  wide.    Signed  and  dated  at  the  lower  right, 

A.  H.  Wyant,  1866. 


NOON  MARK,  ADIRONDACKS 
Canvas.    14  inches  high,  17  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


tke  painter's  ae^Ketic  impulse  found  very  little 
patky  or  encouragement.  Wyant  was  at  no  time  of 
a  strong  physique.  TKe  exposure,  fatigue,  and  lack  of 
proper  food,  proved  too  muck  of  a  strain  for  kis  feeble 
constitution.  Completely  exkausted,  ke  was  literally 
skipped  on  a  train  bound  east.  Ratker  tkan  return  to 
kis  kome,  kowever,  at  tke  expense  of  artistic  starva* 
tion,  Wyant  passed  Defiance,  Okio,  and  returned  to 
face  tke  struggle  in  New  York.  His  illness  resulted 
in  a  stroke  of  paralysis  of  tke  rigkt  side.  From  tkis 
date  Wyant  was  obliged  to  paint  witk  kis  left  kand. 
In  tkis  trying  situation,  tke  struggle  for  liveUkood  be* 
came  doubly  difficult,  but  altkougk  tkus  kandicapped 
at  an  early  age,  V/yant  never  lost  sigkt  of  kis  kigk 
purpose  and  ultimate  intention. 

Corot  is  reported  as  kaving  said :  ""In  tke  career  of 
an  artist  one  must  kave  conscience,  self-confidence 
and  perseverance.  Tkus  armed  tke  two  great  tkings 
in  my  eyes  of  first  importance  are  tke  severe  study  of 
drawing  and  of  values."  No  landscape  painter  ems 
bodied  tkis  ideal  more  truly  tkan  Alexander  \Vyant. 
W^e  see  in  ^Vyant  a  man  of  tke  utmost  sincerity,  a 
man  of  sensitive  conscience,  one  witk  a  steadfast  purs 
pose  and  quiet  but  firm  conviction,  wkick  if  emanat? 
ing  from  a  body  weak  and  sickly,  was  nevertkeless 
made  manifest  by  a  powerful  and  exacting  will.  We 
skaU  see  later  tkat  drawing  and  values  are  of  paras 
mount  importance  in  kis  work. 


13 


PART  two 

A  N  arti^  is  related  to  Kis  time,  as  kis  time  is  related 
to  that  preceding  it.  It  is  very  muck  a  matter 
of  cause  and  effect.  Therefore  in  considering  tKe  work 
of  Wyant  it  will  be  interesting  for  us  to  note  its  rela* 
tion  to  the  work  of  Kis  contemporaries  and  the  deriva? 
tion  of  tke  tken  prevailing  style. 

Climatic  conditions  and  environment  are  no  doubt 
significant  and  important  factors  in  tKe  development 
of  a  people.  It  is  quite  natural  tKat  tKis  sKould  affect 
tKeir  artistic  expression.  TKis  is  additionally  apparent 
in  tKe  art  of  landscape  painting,  for  it  is  not  merely  tKe 
psycKological  state  wKicK  is  tKereby  affected  and  sub? 
ject  to  cKange,  but  tKe  country  and  tKe  climatic  mani? 
fe^ations  become  tKe  very  subjedt  of  representation. 
TKus  we  note  a  striking  contra^  between  tKe  early 
art  of  land  scape  painting  in  tKe  SoutK,  in  Italy,  and 
tKat  of  tKe  NortK,  in  Holland,  produced  not  merely  by 
tKe  temperamental  differences  of  different  people  but 
by  tKe  great  differences  of  topograpKy  and  cKmate. 
TKe  early  landscapes  of  Italy,  as  seen  in  tKe 
grounds  of  tKeir  sacred  pidlures,  are  radiant  and  beau? 
tiful.  TKe  sky  is  unclouded,  tKe  mountains  batKed  m 
atmospKere;  not  rugged,  sombre  and  uninviting,  but 
calm  and  serene;  tKe  valleys  witK  verdant  meadows 
and  winding  streams.  WitK  Claude  Lorraine  tKese 
sugge^ions  of  tKe  earlier  painters  became  magnified 
and  developed,  and  witK  Kim  tKe  so-called  classic  style 
in  landscape  found  its  fulled  development.  In  contra^ 
to  tKis  radiant  landscape  of  tKe  SoutK,  we  Kave  tKe 


14 


sombre  landscape  of  tke  NortK.  Here  the  country  is 
flat,  the  keavens  overeat.  In  consequence  we  see  low 
horizons  and  va^  clouded  skies;  or  rocks  and  romantic 
mountain  streams,  wild  and  desolate.  Deligkt  in  color 
is  seldom  to  he  found,  nor  mu^  we  look  for  tke  lyrical 
interchange  of  line.  V/e  are  nearer  tke  eartk. 

Tkese  two  great  sckools,  tkat  of  tke  Soutk  and  of 
tke  Nortk,  tke  Italian  and  tke  Dutck,  are  traditional 
in  tke  kistory  of  landscape  painting,  and  in  its  develops 
ment  we  clearly  trace  tkeir  influence .  In  England  tke 
classic  line  and  tke  soutkern  spirit  reawakened  by 
Wilson  was  empkasized  by  Turner.  True  it  is  not 
entirely  at  kome.  In  Turner  it  loses  sometking  of 
its  severity  and  dignity;  and  if  it  gains  in  emotional 
content,  it  loses  in  form.  Never tkeless  tke  traditional 
relation  is  apparent.  We  see  tkis  again  in  tke  linear 
rkytkms  and  design  of  Corot.  Constable  refledted  tke 
nortkern  spirit.  A  student  of  Claude,  as  well  as  tke 
Dutckmen,  ke  was,  kowever,  too  absorbed  in  kis  own 
little  corner  of  England,  to  explore  tke  dream  world 
of  tke  imagination.  Unlike  kis  great  contemporary 
Turner,  wko  was  always  experimenting  in  tke  ex? 
pression  of  color  and  atmospkeric  perspective,  ke 
wrougkt  kis  pidtures  in  tke  sombre  colors  of  eartk. 
Not  so  muck  of  a  reaU^  as  we  of  tke  present  age  are 
fond  of  tkinking.  Constable  never  tkeless  became  tke 
Fatker  of  modern  landscape  art.  From  tke  classical 
ideal,  wkick  kad  lo^  itself  in  meaningless  manufacs 
tures,  Con^able  rediscovered  tke  simple,  komely 
beauties  of  nature.   It  is  tkis  spirit  we  see  later  in  tke 


expression  of  tKe  so-called  Barbiz-on  painters  and  tlie 
beginning  of '"'"paysage  in  time." 

The  arti^ic  ance^ry  of  \Vyant  is  quite  apparent. 
His  prediledlion  for  tKe  grey  and  tke  sombre,  bis  love 
oftbe  simple  and  natural,  mark  bim  at  once  as  a  man 
of  tbe  Nortb.  If  Claude  was  tbe  fir^  painter  to  ''set 
tbe  sun  in  Heaven,"  \Vyant  Uke  Con^able  and  bis 
predecessors  in  Holland,  seldom  saw  tbe  sun.  For  bim 
tbe  beavens  were  oversea:^,  tbe  sun,  tbe  vision,  is  be? 
yond,  and  tbe  flying  clouds  indicate  tbe  spiritofcbange, 
tbe  introspection  and  brooding  my^ery  of  tbe  Nortb. 

Tbe  early  period  of  \Vyant  may  conveniently  be 
placed  before  bis  illness  in  1873.  It  covers  little  more 
tban  ten  years,  but  tbe  painter  bad  assimilated  tbe 
metbods  and  teacbing  of  tbe  time,  and  indicated  tbe 
way  of  bis  future  development. 

Tbe  style  of  bis  contemporaries  was  quite  fully 
formed  wben  Wyant  began  bis  career,  being  a  con= 
tinuation  of  Englisb  landscape  as  exempUfied  by 
Tbomas  Cole,  and  reflecting  tbe  German  tendencies 
tben  so  mucb  in  vogue.  Tbe  scenic  beauty  of  tbe 
Hudson  River  formed  tbe  subject  matter  for  tbeir  pic? 
torial  conceptions,  and  in  consequence  our  early  land? 
scape  painters  bave  become  known  as  Tbe  Hudson 
River  Scbool. 

Dusseldorf  was  at  tbis  time  tbe  Mecca  for  Amer? 
ican  artists.  Here  tbe  painter  found  a  formula  wbicb 
incorporated  in  landscape  tbe  sentimental  associa? 
tions  and  tbe  polisb  and  finisb  wbicb  were  tben  pop? 
ular  witb  our  people.    Tbe  German  landscape  art 


IN  THE  STILL  FOREST 
THE  WORCESTER  ART  MUSEUM 
Canvas.    56  inches  high,  55  inches  wide.    Dated  at  the  lower  right,  1882 


had,  like  tke  Frenck  and  the  English,  derived  from 
the  southern  tradition.  Following  the  philosophy 
of  Goethe,  Winckleman  and  Lessing,  the  German 
painters  found  their  only  inspiration  in  the  classical 
countries  and  the  classic  ideal.  \Vhen  later,  under 
the  influence  of  the  Romantic  movement,  Germany 
discovered  herself  as  a  northern  people,  she  became 
intere^ed  in  northern  art  and  the  northern  country. 
The  Norwegian  painter,  J.  C.  Dahl,  exercised  adecid* 
ed  influence  on  German  landscape.  His  pupil.  An? 
dreas  Achenbach,  was  the  mo^  prominent  painter 
of  the  Dusseldorf  school,  and  it  was  under  him  that 
Hans  Gude  received  his  artistic  training.  Hans  Gude 
was  an  accomplished  painter.  A  correct  and  able 
draughtsman,  a  ski  Ued  technician,  his  work  though 
demanding  respedlful  admiration,  does  not  create 
much  enthusiasm.  Wyant  learned  from  him,  how* 
ever,  a  method  and  a  pidlorial  form  with  which  to 
portray  his  accumulated  fadts. 

The  work  of  the  early  period  is  charadterized  by  a 
photographic  fideUty  to  nature.  Much  attention  is 
given  to  the  subjedl,  not  because  of  its  essentially  pics 
torial  quahties,  in  the  sense  of  arrangement  and  the 
proper  relation  and  balance  of  forms  and  colors,  as  be? 
cause  of  its  scenic  intere^  and  the  associative  idea.  It 
is  not  the  beauty  produced  through  the  creative  ar? 
rangement  of  the  arti^,  but  the  natural  beauty  of  the 
scene  itself  that  inspires  him.  Thus,  as  with  the  Diis* 
seldorf  school,  we  see  a  prediledtion  for  expanse.  The 
angle  of  vision  is  wide  and  extended ;  the  subjedt  grand 


and  heroic :  mountains,  rivers,  valleys — scenic,  pano? 
ramie,  in  efFedl.  We  kave  ecKoes  romanticism 
of  Scott,  of  the  traditional  pidtorial  formx  of  Claude. 

Iftke  art  of  V/yant  at  tKis  period  attained  to  tech.- 
nical  proficiency  and  dexterity,  and  an  ability  of  con? 
ceiving  and  rendering  the  subject  in  tbe  prevailing 
manner,  an  accomplishment  wKicb  placed  Kim  as  one 
of  the  foremo^  landscape  painters  in  America  at  tbe 
time,  it  did  not  achieve  di^indtion  or  greatness.  In 
facft  tbe  ideas  on  wbicb  sucb  painting  is  based,  are  too 
superficial  to  produce  a  great  or  noble  art.  Being  es^ 
sentially  representative,  it  nevertheless  does  not  rep= 
resent  essentials.  Thus  the  surface  details  of  a  rock 
are  quite  perfedl,  but  without  the  sense  of  its  weight, 
its  cubic  dimension.  The  minute  forms  of  foreground 
grasses  are  quite  corredtly  imitated,  but  the  solidity 
of  the  earth  is  lacking .  The  bark  of  a  tree  is  elaborately 
painted,  but  its  particular  color  and  relation  to  the 
general  effedl  is  ignored.  The  arti^  insi^ed  on  fine* 
ness  of  finish,  and  a  superficial  perfedrion,  at  the  ex? 
pense  of  truthful  color,  quality,  volume,  and  creative 
design.  Merely  to  complete  the  details  in  a  pidlure 
does  not  necessarily  make  the  pidlure  complete.  But 
this  undoubtedly  excited  the  admiration  of  the  cons 
noisseurs  of  the  time,  for  whom  to  paint  detail  which 
would  bear  the  inspedtion  of  a  magnifying  glass,  was 
a  great  achievement. 

From  a  reali^ic  standpoint  it  may  be  said  that  the 
technique  of  a  pidlure  should  be  governed  by  its  size, 
because  its  size  governs  the  di^ance  from  which  the 


pidlure  should  he  seen.  A  small  pidlure  which  mu^ 
necessarily  he  seen  more  or  less  closely  and  thus  hear 
careful  scrutiny  demands  definition  and  detail;  hut  in 
a  large  pidture,  which  to  come  entirely  within  the 
focus  of  the  eye  mu;^  he  seen  at  a  greater  distance,  this 
detail  is  not  effedlive.  The  large  canvas  requires 
broader  masses  and  greater  simplicity  to  give  it  the 
required  carrying  power.  The  technique  of  a  Vers 
meer  or  a  small  Meissonier  is  admirable,  but  enlarge 
the  pidlure  to  greater  dimensions  as  we  see  it  in  the 
latter 's  ''Friedland"  and  the  effect  is  no  longer  con* 
vincing.  In  the  early  pidlures  of  Wyant  the  larger 
picture  is  painted  with  the  same  technique  as  the 
smaller,  and  in  consequence  loses  that  volume  and 
simplicity  which  we  shall  find  in  Wyant's  later  pic? 
ures.  In  the  large  picture  of  the  ' '  Mohawk  Valley," 
for  example,  we  find  the  same  method  and  the  same 
careful  elaboration  of  detail  as  in  the  small  canvas  of 
''Keene  Valley."  Moreover  this  insi^ence  on  detail 
takes  away  from  the  unity  of  effect,  each  part  is  con? 
sidered  as  carefully  as  another,  and  the  subjedt  is  fo? 
cused  at  all  points  simultaneously. 

The  knowledge  of  form  acquired  in  the  early  pic? 
tures  and  ^udies  of  V/yant  was,  however,  invaluable. 
It  gave  to  his  later  work  a  simplicity  and  sugge^ion 
attained  only  through  under  landing.  V/e  may  con? 
elude  that  form  is  more  important  and  significant  than 
color,  insomuch  as  form  is  con^ant  and  eternal,  but 
color  changeable  and  transient.  The  latter  appeals 
more  diredlly  to  the  eye,  is  more  purely  sensuous. 


19 


wKereas  the  former  is  more  intelledlual.  It  was  uns 
doubtedly  this  sensitive  understanding  of  tke  forms  of 
nature  that  created  tKe  significant  and  appreciative 
touch  wKick  made  Wyant's  later  pictures  so  intimate 
and  so  sympathetic. 

The  color  in  the  early  canvasses  is  more  or  less 
conventional.  This  is  largely  the  result  of  the  uni* 
versal  method  of  painting  over  a  brown  undertone, 
and  the  general  conception  that  all  pidtures  to  be 
effective  must  be  painted  in  a  warm  key.  This  was 
the  heritage  from  the  pa^  made  effed:ive  in  our  mods 
ern  art  through  the  practice  of  Reynolds,  Turner, 
Couture,  Achenbach  and  others.  Moreover  the  fore? 
ground  objects  are  made  darker  and  browner,  to  give 
the  required  contra^  to  the  Ughter  and  cooler  dis= 
tance,  and  thus  create  the  illusion  of  aerial  perspec? 
tive.  It  was  an  accepted  formula  and  follows  certain 
laws  of  nature  under  modi  fled  conditions.  It  is  ah 
ways  effective  if  oftentimes  false.  With  Wyant, 
who  early  showed  a  predilection  for  greys  and  a  re? 
stridled  palette,  these  limitations  were  particularly 
fortunate.  In  the  pictures  painted  between  1865^70 
we  note  this  personal  element  becoming  more  pro? 
nounced.  There  is  a  delicate  relation  and  variation 
of  neutral  colors,  and  a  closer  observation  of  nature. 
V/e  remark  also,  a  more  sensitive  appreciation  of 
light,  not  as  seen  in  the  contra^s  of  sunset  or  uncloud^ 
ed  days,  but  the  diffused  light,  when  the  sun,  though 
behind  the  overhanging  clouds,  casts  a  veiled  radiance 
over  the  landscape.    This  already  gave  his  pictures 


20 


a  poetic  cKarm  wkicli  di^inguisKed  them  from  the 
harder  forms  and  more  prosaic  coloring  of  Kis  prede^ 
cessors. 

That  Wyant  accomplished  so  muck  during  tke 
skort  time  wkick  we  kave  designated  as  tke  early- 
period,  is  due  not  only  to  assiduity  and  application 
but  to  concentrating  kis  energy  in  a  single  direction. 
Less  interested  in  tke  transient  and  fleeting  effects  of 
ligkt  and  color,  tke  painters  of  tkis  period  spent  Kttle 
time  in  experimenting.  Tkeir  work  out  of  doors  was 
not  so  muck  in  tke  nature  of  a  '"'"sketck",  to  attain  tke 
impression  of  a  particular  time,  of  ligkt  and  atmos? 
pkere,  but  ratker  a  study  of  form,  of  particular  ob? 
jects,  tke  details  of  wkick  were  to  be  used  later  in 
tkeir  pictures.  In  consequence  tke  pencil  was  more 
in  use  tkan  at  present.  Tke  pencil  and  tke  brusk 
were  for  tke  German  painters  and  tkeir  American 
followers  during  tke  first  part  of  tke  nineteentk  cen? 
tury  wkat  tke  camera  is  to  tke  modern  tourist.  Tkey 
were  essentially  topograpkical  draugktsmen  bringing 
kome  records  of  foreign  lands  and  unusual  scenes  to 
satisfy  tke  interest  of  tke  curious.  Tkeir  aim  being 
essentially  to  inform  and  instruct,  tkeir  work  is  pure? 
ly  illustrative.  Wyant  lost  little  time  in  following 
vague  and  uncertain  ideas  and  tkeories,  but  was  con? 
tent  to  apply  kimself  in  tke  given  manner.  Tkis  was 
in  a  certain  sense  painting  over  drawing,  and  it  is  only 
in  understanding  tkis  metkod  tkat  we  will  get  a  clear 
idea  of  tkese  early  pictures  and  understand  tkeir  de? 
ficiency  as  well  as  tkeir  significance. 


21 


TKe  subject  Kaving  been  selected,  and  tbe  compo* 
sition  conceived,  the  outline  was  carefully  drawn  on 
the  canvas  witb  pencil  or  brusb.  Tben,  witb  a  trans* 
parent  wasb  of  warm  color  (probably  burnt  sienna 
and  black,  tbinned  witb  turpentine)  tbe  values  were 
fully  rendered,  tbus  enabling  tbe  painter  to  concen? 
trate  entirely  on  tbe  form  before  tbe  pidture  was  con? 
tinned.  On  tbis  warm  monotone  tbe  cooler  opaque 
and  more  local  colors  were  appKed,  not  allowing  tbe 
drawing  underneatb  to  be  entirely  obliterated.  Care 
was  also  taken  to  keep  tbe  darker  masses  and  sbadows 
quite  tbin  and  transparent.  Tbe  ligbts  were  painted 
more  beavily  witb  body  pigment.  In  tbis  manner  of 
painting  tbe  pidlure  need  not  be  completed  wbile  tbe 
paint  is  ^ill  wet,  as  is  more  or  less  tbe  case  witb  tbe 
present  day  painter  wbo  endeavors  to  produce  bis 
effedt  ''a  premier  coup."  One  can  carry  out  tbe  paint* 
ing  part  by  part  witbout  losing  tbe  general  tonality 
and  unity  of  effedl;  moreover  tbere  is  a  gain  in  ricbness 
of  color,  in  transparency  and  a  freedom  from  painti* 
ness  wbicb  cbaradterizes  so  many  efforts  of  today. 

Tbis  manner  of  observing  nature  and  metbod  of 
imitating  it  on  canvas,  insi^ed  on  tbe  form  and  tbe 
details  of  objedls,  but  tbe  more  subtle  and  illusive 
effedts  of  ligbting  and  atmospberic  coloring  were  neg* 
ledted.  Moreover  tbe  paint  being  applied  very  tbinly 
tbe  canvas  bad  more  tbe  effedl  of  a  tinted  drawing. 
Tbe  undluous  quality  of  pigment  is  lacking,  a  quaUty 
wbicb  not  only  gives  greater  soHdity  to  tbe  objedls 
represented  but  is  a  deligbt  in  itself,  appealing  to  tbe 


22 


MOUNTAIN  brook:  A  STUDY 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  CHARLES  W.  GOULD 
Canvas.    9  inches  high,  15  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  left,  A.  H.  Wyant 


TROUT  STREAM :  A  STUDY 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  CHARLES  W.  GOULD 
Canvas.    12  inches  high,  15  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  left,  A.  H.  Wyant 


sense  not  unlike  jewels  or  porcelain,  or  tKe  perception 
of  tke  surface  quality  of  certain  textiles.  In  conse* 
quence  tke  pidtures  tkus  painted  are  said  in  studio  pars 
lance  to  be  ''tKin."  \Ve  sKall  see  that  in  the  later 
works  of  Wyant  lie  amplified  this  method,  adding 
"■'texture"  and  ""glazes,"  which  gave  to  his  pidtures 
more  intere^ing  quality  and  fullness  of  tone,  and  to 
his  forms  greater  freedom  and  suggestiveness. 

Much  of  this  early  work  was  later  de^royed, 
though  we  have  some  notable  examples  which  tell  us 
of  the  painter's  conceptions  at  that  time.  In  the '  Ohio 
River"  painted  in  1867,  the  painter's  ideal  was  danger? 
ously  near  the  photographic  vision,  a  kind  of  scientific 
reality  lacking  seledlion  and  di^indlion.  In  facft 
Wyant  ^udied  photographs  very  attentively  at  this 
period.  There  is  no  thought  of  focal  concentration  or 
simplicity  of  design:  The  foreground  is  as  minutely 
elaborated  as  the  middle  ground  or  di^ance.  We  do 
not  see  any  pidlorial  preference.  In  color  it  is  con* 
sistent  but  monotonous,  lacking  diredl  observation 
of  nature.  In  painting  it  is  thin,  unexpressive  and 
*■  'tight" .  It  is  an  example  more  of  patience  than  of  art, 
and  is  therein  significant,  for  it  shows  persi^ent  en? 
deavor ,  and  a  very  faithful  ^udy  of the  forms  of nature . 

In  similar  vein  we  may  mention:  '•'"Among  the 
Alleghanies,"  showing  mountains  and  lake  over  a 
dark  foreground;  '"'' Mount  Equinox,"  dated  1866,  a 
romantic  subjedl  of  mountain  and  ^ream  with  ap? 
proaching  ^orm,  very  firm  and  accurate  in  drawing 
(echoing  the  ^yle  of  Hans  Gude);  a  ''Scene  on  the 


^3 


upper  Potomac,  We^  Virginia;"  and  an  idealized 
subjedt,  " Landscape— Mountain  Scene." 

Among  the  pidlures  of  this  time  we  occasionally 
see,  however,  an  example  more  intimate  in  its  con* 
ception  and  less  scenic  in  its  efFedl,  showing  something 
of  the  painter's  personal  prediledtion  for  the  more  sim? 
pie  and  homely  aspedts  of  nature.  Today  these  little 
pidtures  might  he  passed  by  with  little  attention,  but 
to  the  ^udent  of  \Vyant  they  are  particuarly  inter? 
e^ing  for  they  show  a  change  from  the  more  popular 
panoramic  pidlures  of  the  period,  and  indicate  at  a 
time  before  the  diredl  influence  of  the  Barbizon  paint* 
ers  and  ''paysage  in  time"  the  way  which  he  was  to 
follow. 

An  extremely  intere^ing  example  is  an  ''Irish 
Landscape"  dated  1866.  Although  the  painting  is  ^ill 
timid  and  unexpressive,  the  composition  is  very  finely 
conceived.  It  shows  a  wild,  lonely,  mountainous 
country;  a  great  angular,  precipitous  peak  rears  its 
dark  form  in  the  heavy  airs,  beyond  which  the  faintly 
lighted  mountains  are  lo^  in  the  overhanging  clouds. 
A  dark,  deep  chasm  is  seen  in  the  centre  of  the  pidture, 
evidently  an  inroad  from  a  lake  or  sea,  of  which  we 
get  a  glimpse  to  the  left.  Again^  this  dark  chasm,  in 
a  nearer  protruding  plane,  is  a  peasant's  hut  in  ^riking 
relief.  It  is  placed  under  the  shelter  of  two  giant 
rocks.  In  the  foreground  to  the  right  is  a  field  which 
has  been  cultivated  under  difficulties.  The  rhythmic 
line  formed  by  the  arrangement  of  the  rocks  and  the 
sparse  vegetation  is  ma^erfully  designed.   The  pic* 


24 


ure  is  well  drawn  and  con^rudled,  the  relative  siz-e 
of  things  being  particularly  well  presented.  Photos 
graphic  in  its  fidelity  to  the  fadts,  it  is  saved  from  me? 
diocrity  by  the  great  beauty  of  the  composition  and 
the  impressiveness  ofthe  scene.  The  dominant  colors 
are  grey?green  over  a  warm  undertone,  becoming 
more  neutral  in  the  di^ance  and  fading  into  the  grey 
and  greysblue  of  the  sky.  Among  other  pidtures  of 
lesser  intere^  this  canvas  shows  a  marked  power  of 
concentration,  and  an  abiKty  to  conceive  and  present 
a  subjedl  forcefully  and  dramatically. 

Another  small  pidlure  '"The  Storm,"  painted  in 
1869,  shows  a  similar  tendency.  It  is  probably  a  sou* 
venir  of  Ireland,  showing  a  wide  expanse  of  desolate 
country  over  which  is  a  heavily  clouded  sky  indicate 
ing  an  approaching  ^orm.  The  jagged  rocks  and 
verdure  lead  up  to  a  lonely  hut  with  wind?blown 
smoke  coming  from  the  chimney,  while  beyond,  the 
sun  hits  the  di^ant  hiU  with  a  note  of  yellow  in  pros 
nounced  contra^  to  the  ominous  ^orm  clouds.  A 
figure  in  red  dress  ^ands  before  the  hut.  The  sky 
gives  us  a  hint  of  the  later  Wyant. 

In  the  same  year  we  have  the  '"Old  Homestead" 
which  is  particularly  intere^ing  as  a  pidture  painted 
from  nature  of  a  charadieristic  American  landscape. 
It  is  not  so  evidently  ""composed"  as  many  ofthe  pics 
tures  in  the  Diisseldorf  manner,  and  gives  in  conses 
quence  more  of  the  local  and  intimate  charadler  of  the 
country.  Carried  out  with  infinite  care  in  construes 
tion  it  has  a  more  immediate  and  appreciative  touch. 


25 


TKe  trees  are  particularly  well  modeled,  and  tKe  eartK 
and  rocks  Kave  great  solidity.  ''Tke  Turbulent 
Stream"  indicates  again  the  close  ^udent  of  nature 
and  an  intense  endeavor  to  underhand  and  portray 
her  forms. 

TKe  mo^  important  and  representative  pidrure  of 
the  early  period,  however,  is  ''TKe  Mohawk  Valley" 
dated  1866,  now  hanging  in  the  MetropoUtan  Muse? 
um.  V/e  feel  that  when  Wyant  signed  this  pidlure 
he  was  ju^ly  proud  of  his  work  and  had  successfully 
achieved  his  early  aspirations.  The  models  after 
which  he  formed  his  ^yle  have  been  rivaled,  if  not 
surpassed.  It  mu^  take  its  place  as  one  of  the  mo^ 
di^inguished  landscapes  painted  in  America  under 
the  influence  of  the  Dusseldorf  school. 

From  a  considerable  elevation,  standing  at  a  cen? 
tral  point  in  the  pidture,  the  spectator  looks  into  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk,  beyond  and  below.  The  tur? 
bulent  river,  bordered  by  overhanging  rocks,  runs 
from  the  right  foreground  to  the  centre  of  the  pidlure, 
where  the  rising  spray  tells  of  the  falls  below.  One 
follows  the  winding  ^ream  through  the  heavily 
wooded  valley,  beyond  which  the  rolling  mountains 
gradually  recede  to  the  distant  plane,  bathed  in  hazy 
atmosphere,  hovering  between  earth  and  sky.  In  the 
foreground  a  great  pine  breaks  the  horizon,  throwing 
its  shadow  to  the  left,  where  the  trees  coming  again^ 
the  sky  gradually  decline  to  the  hiUs  below.  The 
clouds  in  delicate  sequence  of  grey  move  languidly  in 
the  great  expanse  of  sky. 

26 


The  composition  is  exceedingly  well  balanced 
without  being  i^atic  or  conventional.  It  is  built  up  on 
two  converging  pyramidal  attractions  meeting  in  the 
centre  of  the  canvas  at  the  light  rocks  on  the  di^ant 
mountain  slope.  The  eye  leads  into  the  pidlure  from 
the  right  foreground,  following  the  river  to  the  falls, 
where  it  is  blocked  by  rising  trees  and  the  upright 
pine.  This  gives  a  vertical  division  on  the  left  corre? 
sponding  to  which  we  have  the  smaller  upright  trees 
on  the  right.  The  eye  follows  the  ^ream  in  the  valley 
below,  being  confined  by  the  dark  trees  ju^  men* 
tioned ;  it  is  then  attracted  by  the  form  of  the  fore? 
ground  tree  and  is  drawn  again  towards  the  centre 
over  the  farthest  di^ance  and  upwards  to  the  sky. 
Here  the  clouds  are  so  arranged  that  the  attention  is 
held  towards  the  centre.  Thus  the  i^ory  of  the  turbu? 
lent  ^ream,  the  drop  of  the  falls,  the  pine  tree,  the 
^ream  winding  through  the  valley,  the  dark  trees  to 
the  right,  the  mountains,  di^ance  and  sky,  is  told  in 
a  graphic  and  orderly  sequence.  V/e  note  a  more 
sensitive  observation  of  natural  effedt,  a  more  subtle 
appreciation  of  diffused  light,  and  as  always  in  the 
later  work  of  the  painter  an  admirable  reserve  and 
re^raint.  There  is  no  attempt  at  force  or  so  called 
virility,  nor  do  we  find  pigment  textures  or  mannered 
brush  work.  It  is  painted  thinly,  over  a  transparent 
brown  undertone,  the  forms  being  rendered  with 
great  precision  and  nicety  of  con^ruction.  It  is  a 
ma^erpiece  of  topographical  draughtsmanship.  But 
notwith^anding  the  accomplishment,  one  respedt? 

27 


mires,  but  is  not  moved.  If  as  a  topographical 
illu^ration  it  is  beyond  criticism,  as  a  picture  it  is 
wanting  in  that  human  message,  that  sympathetic 
expression,  the  underlying  personaHty  of  its  creator, 
the  emotional  content  with  which  all  great  art  is  ims 
bued.  If  it  challenges  the  photograph  for  accuracy, 
and  in  the  symmetry  of  arrangement  soars  beyond  the 
limitations  or  the  camera,  adding  ab^rad:  beauty  to 
material  form,  we  nevertheless  see  in  this  insistence 
on  detail,  this  intere^  which  is  quite  indifferent 
whether  it  concentrates  on  foreground  twigs  or  rocks, 
the  bark  of  a  tree,  the  distant  hills  or  the  movement 
of  the  clouds,  no  personal  preference,  no  impression, 
no  emotion,  but  a  servile  rendering  of  fadts.  Away 
in  the  di^ance  where  the  forms  become  obscure, 
where  the  land  meets  the  sky  and  all  is  bathed  in  the 
grey  ambient  atmosphere,  we  get  the  touch  of  poetry 
and  feeling  for  which  Wyant  was  later  content  to 
sacrifice  the  less  significant  details.  Let  us  conclude, 
however,  that  this  pidlure  for  one  so  young,  was  a 
great  achievement. 

We  mu^  not  be  misled  by  over  enthusiasm  for  our 
painter  or  patriotic  pride  and  assume  that  in  the  early 
work  of  V/yant  or  his  associates  we  have  an  essential? 
ly  American  landscape  art.  Whereas  it  is  true  that  lo* 
cal  scenery  gives  a  superficial  semblance  of  something 
purely  American,  we  mu^  not  forget  that  the  choice 
of  subjed:,  the  pidtorial  point  of  view,  and  the  method 
of  reproducing  it  on  canvas,  are  entirely  of  foreign 
origin,  the  sources  of  which  we  have  endeavored  to 

28 


trace.  We  see  a  certain  sopki^ication,  wkicli  is  not 
tKe  result  of  a  new  art  and  a  new  interpretation  but 
the  endeavor  of  one  who  wiskes  to  be  considered 
skilled,  corredl  and  cultured.  In  skort  an  endeavor  to 
meet  tke  approval  of  tke  time,  and  gain  tke  financial 
support  of  tke  art  patrons,  wkose  taste  was  formed  by- 
foreign  faskion.  Tkis  is  essentially  tke  mental  attitude 
of  tke  provincial,  and  in  tkis  America  was  but  follow^ 
ing  England  and  Germany,  as  tkey  endeavored  to  fol* 
low  wkat  was  to  tkem  tke  classic  style — witk  tkis 
difference,  kowever,  tkat  witk  tkem  it  was  tkeir  in* 
terpretation  of  tke  classic  style,  wkereas  in  America 
we  simply  continued  tkeir  interpretation. 

PART  Three 

ONE  wko  kad  been  a  neigkbor  of  V/yant's  for 
a  number  of  years  once  said  to  me:  ''I  knew 
Wy  ant  well,  perkaps  better  tkan  anyone.  But  I  know 
very  ktde  about  kim.  Wyant  never  said  muck." 
His  illness  made  kim  introspective  and  taciturn.  We 
see  kim  at  kis  be^  in  kis  pictures.  Conscious  of  kis 
ability,  altkougk  unassuming  and  mode^,  ke  did  not 
divide  kis  intere^s  or  dissipate  kis  energy.  He  was 
not  socially  inclined  and  to  tkose  wko  did  not  unders 
^and  kis  nature  and  kis  pecuUarities  ke  was  often 
gruff  and  uncivil. 

At  on  e  time,  on  returning  from  tke  country,  \Vy  ant 
called  upon  an  intimate  friend  wko  was  skaring  a 
^udio  witk  a  fellow  arti^.  Tke  latter,  wko  was  an 
admirer  of  W^y  ant's  work,  was  glad  of  an  opportunity 


29 


to  meet  Kim,  and  later  called  upon  Kim  at  Kis  ^udio. 
AltKougK  tKe  door  was  open,  Ke  knocked  and  entered 
Kesitatingly.  Wyant  continuing  Kis  work  looked  up 
indifferently.  TKe  visitor  ratKer  embarrassed,  ven* 
tured:  ''I  was  in  your  neigKKorKood,  Mr.  Wyant, 
and  tKougKt  I  would  return  your  call.''  To  wKicK 
Wyant  answered  bluntly  ''I  didn't  call  on  you.  I 
went  to  see  S,"  and  continued  Kis  work. 

In  1879,  Si^^ce  Crane,  tKen  beginning  Kis  career  as 
a  landscape  painter,  called  upon  \VilKam  Hart  to  seek 
advice  and  in^rucftion.  Mr.  Hart  was  not  at  tKat  time 
taking  any  pupils  but  Ke  said  ''Young  man,  across  tKe 
Kail,  is  a  great  painter."  TKiswasintKeoldY.M.C.  A. 
building  in  New  York  wKere  W^yant  Kad  Kis  ^udio 
for  a  number  of  years.  Mr.  Crane  became  Wy  ant's 
pupil  and  talks  very  intere^ingly  of  tKis  period.  He 
was  given  tKe  key  to  tKe  ^udio  and  entered  at  will. 
^Vyant  gave  little  advice  in  words.  His  pupil's  task 
was  principally  to  copy  pidtures  and  to  learn  from 
tKe  pradtice  of  tKe  masfter. 

At  tKis  time  W^yant  was  deeply  intere^ed  in  tKe 
Barbizon  painters.  He  sent  to  tKe  Academy  a  pidture 
wKicK  Ke  called:  '"'"In  tKe  Spirit  of  Rousseau.'  "  TKe 
title  is  significant,  not  only  because  it  sKows  tKe  rec* 
ognition  of  tKis  influence,  but  because  it  Kints  at  tKe 
wayin  wKicK  Ke  assimilated  tKe  work  of  tKe  painters 
wKom  Ke  admired,  not  by  copying  or  merely  repeat* 
ing  but  by  working  in  tKe  spirit  of  Kis  prototype. 
\VKen  an  art  dealer  was  sKowing  some  small  exam? 
pies  of  W^y ant  to  a  patron  tKe  latter  remarked ' '  TKese 


30 


THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY 

THE  METROPOLITAN  MUSEUM  OF  ART 

Canvas.    33%  inches  high,  53%  inches  wide.    Signed  and  dated  at  the  lower  right, 

A.  H.  Wyant,  1866 


pictures  are  very  much  like  tke  Barbizon  men." 
Wyant,  informed  of  tke  remark,  was  appreciably 
pleased,  and  proudly  acknowledged  bis  allegiance. 

While  not  communicative  or  fluent  in  speech,  he 
was  often  droll  and  witty.  His  remarks  were  brief, 
epigrammatic  and  significant.  A  ^udent  who  had 
come  to  Mr.  Wyant  for  criticism,  was  showing  some 
of  his  work.  In  explaining  his  difficulties  he  said : 
"•You  know,  Mr.  W^yant,  I  don't  have  much  trouble 
in  finishing  my  pidlures.  What  I  want  to  learn  is  how 
to  begin  them."  ''"Well,  young  man,"  Wyant  re? 
plied,  ''I  think  we  had  better  go  into  partnership.  I 
can  ^art  them  all  right,  but  I  have  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  in  finishing  them." 

Although  \Vyant  was  successful  in  the  sale  of  his 
pidtures  he  seemed  rather  indifferent  in  this  regard. 
He  was  too  absorbed  in  producing  them  to  think  of 
their  disposal.  At  Arkville,  a  lady  who  admired  his 
work  and  was  desirous  of  acquiring  one  of  his  pic* 
tures,  spoke  of  her  intention  to  a  mutual  friend, 
^uite  naturally  the  friend  replied :  ^  ^  Why  don't  you 
speak  to  Mr.  W^yant,  or  go  to  his  studio?"  W^ell," 
said  the  lady,  ''I  don't  dare.  Fm  afraid."  On  another 
occasion  a  patron  who  was  furnishing  his  home  and 
wished  several  pidlures  called  upon  Wyant  at  his 
^udio.  He  seledled  two  and  was  in  doubt  about  the 
third.  ^^I  don't  know  whether  this  pidlure  will  exadt* 
ly  fit  the  place  or  not."  This  remark  a^onished  the 
painter.  He  was  indignant.  The  idea  of  buying  pic? 
tures  ju^  for  a  wall  space  was  unbearable  to  him  and 

31 


as  a  result  Ke  refused  to  sell  the  gentleman  any  of  his 
pidlures. 

In  1880  ke  married  Arabella  Locke,  daughter  of 
J.  B.  Locke  of  New  York.  Miss  Locke  was  a  pupil  of 
\Vyant's,  and  is  the  painter  of  many  charming  water 
colors.  Their  summers  were  spent  at  Keene  Valley 
in  the  Adirondacks  and  later,  in  1889,  they  moved  to 
Arkville  in  the  Catskills .  The  house  was  on  the  moun* 
tain  slope  opposite  the  town.  A  small  piazza  was 
built  on  the  we^  end  of  the  house,  and  from  here  the 
painter  could  ^udy  the  surrounding  country,  looking 
up  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  and  into  the  nearby 
woods.  In  the  later  years  this  was  the  limit  of  his  pic* 
torial  material.  Apart  from  occasional  drives  he  seh 
dom  ventured  far  from  this  immediate  vicinity.  This, 
however,  seemed  entirely  satisfying.  He  would  sit 
with  unwearied  and  ever  increased  intere^  watching 
the  clouds  and  the  different  Hghts  and  colors  that  passed 
over  the  landscape.  Then  he  would  retire  to  his  ^udio 
and  transfer  his  impressions  to  canvas. 

He  suffered  greatly  from  bodily  pain.  Physical  ex? 
ertion  became  more  and  more  difficult.  He  was  there? 
fore  incapacitated  for  the  occupations  and  enjoyments 
of  a  normal  life.  This  drew  him  more  and  more  to  his 
work.  This  was  his  great  passion,  his  unceasing  de? 
sire  until  the  end.  He  died  November  29,  1892. 


32 


PART  FOUR 

A  MERIGAN  painting  bears  muck  tke  same  res 
^/^^  lation  to  foreign  schools  and  tendencies  as  Amer? 
ican  literature.  But  painting  being  a  more  universal 
language  is  not  so  limited  to  tbe  mother  tongue.  Thus, 
as  we  have  seen,  our  early  landscape  painters  turned 
quite  readily  from  tbe  English  influence  to  the  Ger? 
man,  and  we  now  find  an  adtive  influence  coming 
fi?om  France. 

Although  painting  is  naturally  a  more  imitative  ex? 
pression  than  writing,  its  ^yle  is  governed  largely  by 
the  spirit  and  thought  of  the  time.  As  thought  fir^  de* 
fines  itself  in  words,  it  is  therefore  evident  that  the 
literary  expression  of  a  given  time  precedes  the  pic? 
torial.  V/ith  the  breaking  down  of  the  e^ablished  or? 
der  of  things  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen? 
tury  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  we  see  the 
druggie  for  fi:eedom  giving  rise  to  new  social  condi? 
tions.  The  natural  was  associated  with  freedom,  as 
opposed  to  the  ari^ocratic  and  the  artificial.  This  is 
the  beginning  of  the  great  movement  of  the  return  to 
nature.  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  was  its  prophet. 

This  sentiment  is  echoed  in  mo^  of  the  poets  ofthe 
time.  Nature  is  imbued  with  a  soul  and  the  poet  is  a 
passionate  worshipper.  V/e  see  it  vividly  refledled 
in  the  American  writers.  It  is  the  dominant  theme 
of  W^hittier,  Lowell  and  Longfellow,  it  gets  into  the 
philosophy  of  Emerson,  finds  a  living  and  intimate 
expression  in  Thoreau  and  a  worshipper  in  Lanier. 
During  the  second  half of  the  nineteenth  century  land* 


33 


scape  painting  became  a  real  and  vital  religious  ex* 
pression.  As  opposed  to  tKe  formal  observance  of  rite 
and  ceremony,  it  did  not  assume  this  significance,  but 
to  tbose  to  wbom  tbe  outward  manife^ation  seemed 
insincere  and  insignificant,  nature  was  a  place  of  ref? 
uge  and  a  consolation.  Tke  fore^  became  tbe  catbe? 
dral  and  tbe  sky  tbe  beavenly  abode.  Nature  was  a 
sacred  grove  and  tbe  arti^  its  bigb  prie^.  Contra^ed 
to  tbe  earlier  landscape  wbicb  served  as  a  magnificent 
background  for  tbe  noble  deeds  of  man,  tbe  new 
scbool  saw  in  nature  tbe  refledtion  of  tbe  soul  witb 
wbicb  man  bimself  is  imbued.  Landscape  art  became 
pantbei^ic.  It  is  tbis  spirit  seeking  expression  in  vis* 
ual  form  wbicb  unites  tbe  so-called  Barbizon  painters, 
otberwise  so  seemingly  separated.  It  is  tbis  spirit 
wbicb  makes  Inness,  Wyant  and  Martin  one  witb 
tbem,  tbeir  mo^  legitimate  and  significant  successors. 

Had  Wyant  not  become  ill,  but  returned  i^rengtb? 
ened  and  invigorated  from  bis  early  ^Ve^ern  adven* 
ture,  we  migbt  bave  bad  many  intere^ing  records, 
topograpbically  corredt,  of  tbe  wonders  of  We^ern 
scenery.  He  would  not  only  bave  been  tbe  rival  of 
Bier^adt  and  Cburcb  for  popular  applause  and  appre? 
ciation,  but  would  bave  added  a  more  sensitive  and 
trutbful  account  of  tbe  country  wbicb  be  observed. 
His  ill  bealtb  and  subsequent  lack  of  pbysical  ^rengtb, 
bowever,  tended  to  create  an  introspecftive  and  reflec? 
tive  attitude,  resulting  in  a  more  subjedlive  interpreta* 
tion  of  nature.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  great  bandicap 
to  be  obliged  to  paint  witb  bis  left  band,  but  be  came 


34 


AN  OLD  CLEARING 
THE  METROPOLITAN  MUSEUM  OF  ART 

Canvas.    48  inches  high,  36  inches  wide.    Signed  and  dated  at  the  lower  left, 

A.  H.  Wyant,  1881 


to  see  tKat  a  certain  generalization  of  form  gave  a 
greater  simplicity  of  effecft,  and  moreover  he  felt  the 
need  of  expressing  something  more  tkan  fadls.  Works 
ing  in  tke  early  manner  Ke  Kad  produced  pidlures 
pleasing  and  ''"finislied"  but  tke  knocking  at  tke  door 
was  not  answered.  Witk  tke  completion  of  tke 
'■''Mokawk  Valley"  so  di^indiive  in  kis  early  career, 
Wyant  could  go  no  furtker  in  tkis  direction.  He 
now  endeavored  to  find  a  means  of  expressing  tke 
more  personal  significance  of  nature,  its  appeal  to  tke 
soul. 

It  kappened  tkat  about  tkis  time  tke  fame  of  tke 
Barbizon  painters  reacked  our  skores,  and  examples 
of  tkeir  work  were  skown  in  tkis  country.  To  tkose 
accu^omed  to  tke  poHsk  and  nice  color  of  tke  current 
^yle  tkese  pictures  were  a  great  skock.  Connoisseurs 
talked  guardedly  about  tke  Barbizon  painters  wkose 
works  would  not  bear  tkeir  carefiil  and  critical  scruti^ 
ny.  Corot  was  too  vague,  indefinite,  careless,  color? 
less,  and  in  a  word,  unfinisked.  Witk  Rousseau  tke 
subjedt  was  lacking.  For  tkose  wko  measured  tke 
beauty  of  a  scene  by  tke  number  of  miles  seen  in  one 
""coup  d'oeil,"  kis  pictures  were  wanting  in  grandeur 
and  scenic  intere^.  Dupre  was  scarcely  intelligible. 
His  insistence  on  texture  to  produce  not  merely  illu* 
sion  but  quality  of  paint,  kis  romantic  expression  in 
color,  were  cabali^ic  symbols  to  tke  uninitiated.  But 
to  V/yant  tkese  pidtures  were  a  revelation.  It  res 
quired  a  kindred  spirit  to  recognize  tkeir  arti^ic  value. 
To  kim  tkey  opened  a  new  door  and  skowed  tke  way. 


35 


More  enligKtened  and  less  easily  satisfied  tkan  the 
connoisseurs  ofKis  time,  Wyant  perceived  tkat  tke 
superficial  surface  and  finish,  of  a  pidlure  was  a  poor 
indication  of  tke  mind  behind  it. 

\Ve  can  see  why  Rousseau  would  so  Wrongly  ap* 
peal  to  \Vyant.  He  was  essentially  classic  in  the 
sense  of  the  perfect  unison  of  form  and  idea.  More? 
over,  his  idea  was  not  merely  the  repetition  of  elegant 
lines  and  meaningless  compositions.  It  was  inspired 
by  the  simple,  homely  landscape  of  the  North,  by  the 
communion  of  mind  with  nature.  Thus  it  was  a  re? 
adlion  again^  what  had  falsely  been  called  ''classic" 
and  brought  to  landscape  art  a  new  leven.  Rousseau 
was  au^ere.  His  painting  had  an  almo^  rehgious 
reverence  for  the  subjedt.  Trees  became  his  deare^ 
friends  and  under  his  sympathetic  brush  are  imbued 
with  the  law  of  growth  and  life .  They  are  not  merely 
decorative  accessories  treated  in  a  conventional  man= 
ner  for  fashionable  drawing?rooms,  they  have  weight 
and  depth,  are  organic  and  real. 

Romanticism  brought  to  painting  the  poetry  of  the 
earth .  Cor ot  had  said  ' '  one  mu^  seek  above  all  else  in 
a  pidlure  for  some  manifestation  of  the  arti^'s  spirit? 
ual  ^ate,  for  a  portion  ofhis  reverie."  This  awakened 
appreciation  of  nature  brought  with  it  the  ^udy  of 
nature,  and  thus  we  find  in  these  works  a  healthy 
realism  going  hand  in  hand  with  romanticism.  The 
school  was  changed  from  the  Academy  to  the  fields. 

In  the  development  of  V/y ant's  art  we  see  a  more 
sympathetic  appreciation,  a  more  intimate  response 

3fe 


to  nature.  It  is  the  difJused  light  on  things  and  their 
illusive  sugge^ion  that  attradls  the  painter,  rather  than 
the  literal  and  photographic  attention  to  fact.  The 
mental  mood,  the  emotion  inspired  by  nature,  its  spirs 
itual  import,  becomes  significant.  Landscape  is  inter* 
e^ing  to  him  now,  not  only  because  the  scene  is  re* 
markable  or  unusual,  grand  or  romantic,  but  because 
of  its  simplicity,  its  naturalness,  its  lack  of  affectation. 
We  recall  the  phrase  of  Emerson  Nature  is  never  to 
be  surprised  in  undress.  Beauty  springs  everywhere." 
The  painter's  highe^  purpose  is  no  longer  that  of  a 
mere  recorder  of  fadls  for  the  curious .  Science  had  in* 
vented  an  in^rument  with  which  no  human  hand 
could  vie.  For  information,  for  detail  and  topograph? 
ical  in^rudtion,  the  camera  had  taken  the  place  of  the 
painter.  No  longer  have  we  need  of  an  arti^  to  tell  us 
merely  scientific  fadls .  It  is  what  nature  means  to  man 
that  is  of  paramount  importance.  Thus  landscape 
painting  becomes  human,  and  fulfills  again  that  ideal 
of  art  as    Nature  seen  through  a  temperament." 

The  fir^  evidence  of  this  new  influence  in  Wy ant's 
pidlures  was  a  redudlion  in  the  angle  of  vision.  The 
eye  concentrated  at  one  place  cannot  take  in  a  great 
radius.  The  impression  is  received  from  this  single 
vision.  The  ch  ange  of  subjedl  is  thus  from  a  wide, 
extended,  panoramic  view  to  the  more  intimate  and 
nearby  objedls,  seen  while  the  eye  is  concentrated  at 
a  single  place.  It  is  the  seledtion  of  the  arti^,  his  crea? 
tive  arrangement  of  the  subjedl  that  assumes  mo^ 
significance .  Henceforth  he  does  not  paint  only  those 


37 


evident  situations,  seledled  because  tKe  view  IS  won? 
derful,  but  rather  those  httle  spots  seen  in  everyday- 
rambles,  from  which  he  gathers  his  impressions.  It 
IS  now  the  discerning  eye  of  the  arti^  who  has  become 
a  poet,  that  speaks  to  us.  Not  a  hundred  things  at 
once  are  to  attrad:  the  attention,  but  one  unified  im* 
pression  of  a  passing  phase  of  nature  is  sufficient  ma? 
terial  to  satisfy  the  emotion  and  awaken  the  sympa? 
thetic  creative  impulse. 

V/hether  environment  determines  the  work  of  a 
painter  or  whether  by  some  happy  chance  he  dis* 
covers  a  place  to  which  his  soul  had  already  been 
attuned  and  to  render  which  his  accomplishment  had 
been  formed,  is  a  mo^  subtle  que^ion.  What  would 
the  work  of  Millet  have  been  had  he  not  discovered 
himself  at  Barbizon?  How  would  the  later  work  of 
Turner  have  been  created  had  he  not  taken  those  Con? 
tinental  rambles  which  simulated  his  imagination? 
Or  what  should  we  have  had  from  our  own  Winslow 
Homer  had  he  not  lived  on  the  Maine  coa^?  The 
environment  of  the  landscape  painter  undoubtedly 
plays  a  mo^  important  part  in  his  produdlion  and  fixes 
to  a  great  extent  the  kind  of  subjedt  he  is  to  paint. 

Thus  when  Wyant  moved  to  the  mountains  it  de? 
termined  his  choice  of  subjed:,  and  in  his  pictures  he 
so  completely  portrays  this  country  that  his  name 
mu^  always  be  associated  with  it.  At  Keene  Valley 
the  wood  interiors  are  particularly  beautiful,  and  here 
we  see  the  beginning  of  that  wonderful  series  of  lyrics 
of  the  woods  which  brings  us  to  the  true  Wyant 

38 


wkom  we  honor  as  a  great  American  painter.  It  is 
tKe  beauty  and  tke  poetry  of  our  own  woods  and 
clearings  wKicK  he  portrays  in  pidlures  imbued  with 
sympathetic  and  intense  feeUng,  wrought  with  con? 
summate  skill  and  knowledge.  He  was  not  defined 
to  be  a  painter  of  pa^oral  country,  of  cultivated  lands 
showing  the  indu^ry  of  man,  of  hamlets  sugge^ive 
of  human  interei^;  but  the  painter  of  sylvan  woods, 
of  the  birch,  the  beech,  the  fir,  of  mossy  rocks,  and 
mountain  brooks;  or  following  in  the  path  of  the  axe 
in  northern  woods  he  sees  his  pidlure  in  the  clearing, 
the  mountain  valley  and  the  clouds. 

As  a  result  of  this  life  in  the  country  \Vy ant's 
work  became  not  only  more  personal  but  more  truly 
American.  It  was  diredledin  three  general  channels: 
the  careful  i^udy  of  natural  objedls,  of  rocks,  tree? 
trunks,  brooks,  foreground  objedls  and  the  Hke;  the 
small  pidlure  painted  outsof?doors;  and  the  ^udio  pic? 
ture.  As  time  passed  his  well^^ored  memory  and  his 
con^ant  observation  took  the  place  of  ^udies,  and 
mo^  of  his  work  was  done  indoors.  But  during  the 
seventies  and  early  eighties  he  did  considerable  work 
out^of  doors,  as  numerous  pidlures  bear  witness. 

The  pidlure  of  the  mouth  of  the  ''Ausable  River," 
dated  Aug . ,  20th,  1 872,  is  a  very  careful  ^udy  of  nature 
in  which  the  arti^  has  endeavored  to  describe,  faith? 
fully,  its  aspedl.  The  color  is  rather  dead  and  monot? 
onous  but  the  forms  are  firmly  modeled.  In^ead  of 
the  servile  and  conscientious  copying  of  details  we 
note  a  more  comprehensive  brush  ^roke,  a  greater 


39 


freedom  in  painting  and  more  consideration  for  mass. 
TKe  subjedt  is  seen  from  the  Kills  overlooking  Lake 
CKamplain.  In  the  foreground  is  a  field  termmated 
by  a  dark  hedge,  over  wKich  are  tke  trees  bordering 
the  lake.  A  point  jutting  out  indicates  the  mouth  of 
the  river.  In  the  di^ance  is  the  long  line  of  hills  and 
mountains  lo^  in  heavy  atmosphere.  Another  pic* 
ture  evidently  painted  at  Keene  VaUey  at  about  this 
time,  shows  a  similar  tendency.  It  is  a  mo^  severe 
and  conscientious  study  of  nature.  The  pidluresque 
mountain  side,  placed  high  in  the  composition,  is  sen* 
sitively  felt  and  solidly  con^rudied.  The  clouds  that 
break  its  edge  float  lightly  in  the  air .  In  the  foreground 
is  a  shallow  ^ream  bordered  on  the  right  by  overhang; 
ing  bushes,  while  the  middle  plane  coming  in  contra^ 
to  the  mountain  side  shows  a  group  of  trees  with  sum* 
mer  foliage,  minutely  rendered.  If  as  a  pidlure,  one 
feels  that  it  is  over  elaborated  and  the  intere^  rather 
scattered,  as  a  ^udy,  a  portrait  of  the  place,  it  is  en? 
tirely  satisfying. 

One  of  the  large^  and  mo^  important  pidlures  of 
the  Adirondacks  is  ''In  the  Still  Fore^."  It  was  paint? 
ed  at  Keene  Valley  with  the  intention  of  using  it  as  a 
decoration  over  the  fireplace  ofhis  home,  to  be  made 
a  part  of  the  wall.  But  the  pidlure  developed  so  well 
that  \Vyant's  friends  persuaded  him  not  to  make  it  a 
fixture  of  the  house.  This  proved  advisable  for  not 
long  afterward  he  sold  his  house  and  moved  his  sum; 
mer  ^udio  to  the  Catskills.  The  pidture  now  hangs 
in  the  Worce^er  Art  Museum.   Through  the  ar; 


40 


rangement  of  mass  and  color  the  arti^  kas  imparted  to 
the  subjedl  true  nobility  and  grandeur.  One  does  not 
feel  that  it  represents  a  particular  spot,  yet  the  natural 
is  so  combined  witk  tbe  purely  abi^radl  tbat  we  get 
the  sense  of  reality  and  at  the  same  time  the  more 
elusive  message  of  the  composer.  The  painter  evinces 
his  consummate  knowledge  of  nature  in  making  its 
forms  follow  his  own  definite  conception  of  composi? 
tion  without  creating  any  inconsi^encies  or  solecisms. 
He  is  not  the  slave  of  nature  in  servilely  following  her 
lea:^  significant  forms  and  infinite  fadts,  but  rather  her 
interpreter. 

If  in  the  individual  parts  of  nature  we  see  beautiful 
symmetry  and  balance,  as  in  the  flowers,  leaves  and 
trees,  we  seldom  find  the  larger  forms  combining  to 
create  a  perfedt  harmony  in  the  landscape.  Although 
the  general  topographical  relation  gives  to  a  certain 
country  its  type  and  charadler,  it  is  merely  a  matter 
of  chance  whether  a  tree  be  placed  here,  a  rock  there, 
or  that  the  sky  follows  the  rhythmic  line  of  the  lands 
scape.  \Ve  invariably  get  consi^ent  color  harmonies 
when  we  see  objedls  under  the  same  lighting;  it  is  rare 
that  we  see  this  harmony  in  the  composition.  Work? 
ing  indoors  Wyant  had  a  great  advantage  over  the 
painter  working  dired:ly  from  nature.  Although  the 
latter  may  get  a  more  immediate  touch  which  often 
makes  his  pidlures  more  convincing  from  a  purely 
reah^ic  ^andpoint,  he  is  nevertheless  apt  to  be  over? 
influenced  by  insignificant  facts  and  the  random  spac? 
ing  and  composition  of  nature.    The  painter  works 


41 


ing  indoors  Kas  more  control  over  h.is  arrangement. 
V/yant  represented  not  alone  tke  image  of  a  particu? 
lar  place,  but  ratlier  that  inner  vision  wkicK  is  formed 
by  con^ant  intercourse  and  communion  with  nature, 
by  observation,  and  careful  ^udy.  Fully  conversant 
with  form  and  color,  be  was  enabled  to  make  bis  pics 
tur es  botb  consi^ent  and  convincing .  In  consequence 
bis  subjedts  bave  a  universal  appeal,  for  tbey  ^and  as 
eternal  types  of  typical  scenes.  Tbey  are  not  merely 
illustrations  or  representations  of  a  place  but  tbe  im? 
aginative  and  creative  work  of  a  poet  wbo  tells  in  con? 
cise  and  fitting  pbrases  of  tbe  beauty  oftbe  woods. 

An  intere^ing  comparative  ^udy  iUu^rating  tbe 
care  witb  wbicb  tbe  maimer  worked  and  bis  sensi* 
tiveness  to  adjustment  is  seen  in  tbe  two  subjedls 
''Autumn  in  tbe  Woods"  and  ""Adirondack  Woods." 
Tbe  fir^  is  tbe  completed  pidlure,  tbe  second  is  a  ren? 
dering  of  tbe  form  in  a  warm  transparent  monotone, 
mo^  probably  Parted  diredtly  from  nature  and  left 
unfinisbed.  In  tbe  pidlure,  altbougb  tbe  subjedl  is 
pradticaUy  identical,  tbere  bave  been  minor  cbanges 
in  tbe  composition  wbicb  bave  added  mucb  to  its  dig? 
nity  and  subtle  balance.  Differences  tbat  appear  sHgbt 
at  tbe  fir^  glance,  but  impart  to  it  a  spiritual  signifi? 
cance  incalculable  in  definite  terms.  It  is  ju^  tbat 
subtle  difference  wbicb  we  remark  in  individuals 
wbere  tbe  outward  signs  are  similar  but  one  bas  more 
inner  poise  tban  tbe  otber.  It  is  in  tbis  way  tbat  tbe 
ab^radt  elements  in  pidlure  making  are  so  significant, 
for  tbrougb  delicate  balance  and  barmony  tbey  teacb 


42 


PASSING  CLOUDS 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  EMERSON  MC  MILLIN 
Canvas.    40  inches  high,  50  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  left,  A.  H.  Wyant 


tkat  order  and  relation  wkicK  is  so  essential  in  life.  In 
this  way  art  assumes  a  higher  purpose  and  plays  a 
more  important  part  than  is  generally  assigned  to  Ker . 

Another  large  and  important  picture  of  this  period 
is  ''In  the  Adirondacks,"  formerly  in  the  Evans  Coh 
lection.  It  combines  as  do  the  other  pictures  the  beau* 
ties  of  the  forest  with  the  ordered  conception  of  the 
artist.  Looking  through  the  woods  from  the  shadow, 
we  follow  the  winding  stream  to  the  sunhght  beyond. 
A  stately  beech  tree  rises  from  the  foreground,  be^ 
hind  which  we  get  the  dark  note  of  the  firs,  and  on 
the  other  side  the  slender  balancing  lines  of  the  grace? 
ful  birch.  The  distant  clouds  hint  at  passing  shadows. 
For  those  who  see  in  a  picture  something  more  than 
a  duplication  of  facts,  and  in  nature  something  more 
than  its  immediate  impression  on  the  eye,  this  pidiure 
is  a  veritable  symphony  of  the  woods. 

Wyant  used  nature.  He  took  from  her  only  what 
he  needed.  His  study  was  not  only  objective.  He 
was  constantly  searching  for  rhythm,  balance  and 
harmony.  While  walking  with  a  friend  in  the  coun* 
try  the  silence  was  broken  when  Wy ant  said :  *■ '  How 
do  you  like  that  line  of  distant  mountain?"  ''"Just 
what  do  you  mean,  Mr.  Wyant?"  ''\Vell,"  said  he, 
''don't  you  think  it  would  be  finer  if  the  Hne  came 
down  just  a  little  lower  where  it  meets  the  nearer 
plane?"  He  was  thinking  in  terms  of  abstract  harmo* 
ny,  and  when  he  was  out  of  doors  he  was  always 
thinking.  One  day  when  he  was  leaning  against  a 
fence  an  artist  friend  going  out  to  work  said:  "Ah, 


43 


good  morning,  Mr.  Wyant,  not  working  today!" 
-Yes,"  responded  Wyant,  '■'rm  working." 

As  a  tree  draughtsman,  V/yant's  work  must  he 
ranked  with  tke  greatest  of  kis  predecessors.  In 
''Modern  Painters,"  Ruskin  declares  tkat  no  painter 
ever  drew  a  tree  accurately  before  Turner ;  and  pro* 
ceeds  to  show  tke  inaccuracies  in  tke  tree  construes 
tion  of  Claude  and  Poussin.  Ruskin  was  speaking  as 
a  naturalist  and  thinking  of  tke  early  work  of  Turner . 
Had  ke  brougkt  tke  same  careful  scrutiny  to  Turner's 
later  work  ke  must  kave  seen  tkat  ke  followed  to  a 
great  extent  tke  southern  tradition  of  Claude,  and 
tkat  accuracy  of  representation  was  not  kis  ckief  aim. 
We  may  excuse  or  explain  tke  tree  construction  of 
Claude  wken  we  tkink  of  its  kigker  function  in  kis 
pictorial  conception.  Claude  painted  trees  not  as  a 
naturalist  but  as  an  artist.  His  tree  forms  served  kis 
decorative  purposes  and  formed  stately  settings  for 
kis  scenes  of  grandeur  and  romance.  But  tkere  is 
notking  intimate  in  kis  tree  drawing  and  we  accept  it 
as  a  part  of  kis  conventional  sckeme.  \Ve  must  go  to 
tke  Nortk  to  find  tke  trees  of  nature.  In  Ruisdael, 
Hobbema  and  tke  otker  Dutckmen  we  see  tke  tree 
tkat  kas  stood  tke  strain  and  stress  of  time.  Its  roots 
are  deeply  imbedded  in  tke  eartk.  It  lives  and  grows. 
Tkis  firmness  and  solidity  of  construction,  tkis  intis 
mate  study  and  knowledge  of  form  wkick  gives  to 
trees  type  and  ckaracter,  was  interpreted  at  a  later 
time  by  Tkeodore  Rousseau,  probably  tke  greatest 
tree  draughtsman  in  tke  kistory  of  landscape  art.  • 


44 


Wyant  followed  the  Nortkern  tradition.  In  his 
early  work  the  trees  are  accurate  in  drawing  and 
elaborate  in  detail,  though  they  are  painted  without 
expression  and  without  feeling.  It  was  only  in  his 
later  work  when  he  underwood  the  trees  more  thor* 
oughly  that  he  drew  them  with  freedom  and  express 
sion.  Then  we  see  the  value  of  accent  and  emphasis 
and  that  selediion  which  comes  in  knowing  what  to 
leave  out.  In  this  he  was  guided  hy  the  Barhizon  paint* 
er  s  who  taught  him  the  importance  of  mass  and  values . 
A  great  admirer  of  these  painters,  and  in  particular 
Rousseau  and  Corot,  V/yant  never  became  merely  a 
follower  or  imitator.  This  is  particularly  shown  in 
his  tree  drawing.  Rousseau  had  preferred  the  heavy 
trees,  the  giants  of the  fore^,  the  great  oaks  of  Fontaine 
ebleau  with  their  limbs  low  to  the  ground  and  gnarled 
and  heavy  trunks.  Wyant  preferred  the  graceful 
trees,  tall  and  slender,  seeking  their  way  to  the  light. 
He  found  his  models  in  the  Adirondacks  and  the  Cats= 
kills  where  the  woodman  had  chopped  down  the  great 
pines  and  left  the  birch,  the  beech  and  the  smaller  trees . 
Like  the  slender  figure  ofthe  painter,  deUcate  but  firm, 
they  grow  heavenward. 

Great  draughtsmanship  is  not  alone  the  ability  to 
follow  a  given  Kne  or  form.  It  does  not  depend  merely 
on  clarity  of  vision  and  accuracy  in  execution.  It  is 
more  than  representation.  It  is  expression.  This  is 
acquired  through  the  personal  intere^  in  the  subjedl, 
the  knowledge  which  follows  from  observation  and 
^udy,  and  that  intimacy  which  is  the  result  of  both. 


45 


Thus  it  combines  tKe  objedlive  and  subjedlive  faculs 
ties.  Always  a  indent  of  nature,  Wyant  Kad  a  pro* 
found  knowledge  of  form.  It  was  tkis  knowledge, 
tKe  result  of  Kis  love  of  nature,  tKat  brougkt  to  kis 
drawing  tkat  freedom  and  sugge^ion  combined  witk 
sureness  and  soKdity  tkat  gives  kis  work  Kfe  and  vitals 
ity. 

In  kis  early  work  ke  kad  ^udied  form  for  itself. 
Eack  part  was  rendered  accurately  and  completely. 
Later  it  is  not  tke  isolated  form,  but  form  related  to 
tke  general  pidtorial  conception  tkat  assumes  signifi? 
cance.  In  consequence,  values  are  of  tke  utmo^  im? 
portance.  Tke  ^udy  of  values,  tkeir  proper  relation 
from  a  reaK^ic  ^andpoint,  tkeir  significance  in  pic= 
torial  composition  in  producing  tke  proper  ""ensems 
ble,"  are  given  more  and  more  consideration.  Draws 
ing,  modekng  and  color  become  one.  Tkus  in  kis 
""Passing  Clouds"  tke  forms  of  tke  landscape  are  sub* 
ordinated  to  tke  dominant  pidlorial  motive  wkick  is 
centered  in  tke  dark,  wind-blown  trees  again^  tke 
ligkt,  swaying  forms  of  flying  clouds.  Tke  tkeme  be? 
comes,  as  it  were,  tke  symbol  of  c  kange.  Tke  draws 
ing  kas  more  relation  to  tke  significance  of  tke  wkole 
tkan  tke  mere  record  of  a  part;  tke  values  serve  not 
only  to  illumine  tke  fadts  but  to  enlarge  upon  tke  illus 
sive  idea  of  ligkt  and  aerial  expanse.  Tke  maker's 
problem  in  ckiaroscuro  is  essentially  tke  same  as  Rem? 
brandt's,  insomuck  as  it  is  tke  gradual  gradation  of 
ligkt  coming  out  of  darkness  tkat  intere^s  botk  paint? 
ers.  Tke  pidlorial  intere^  is  attained  tkrougk  ckange 

46 


A  SUNLIT  VALE 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  H.  H.  BENEDICT 
Canvas.    26  inches  high,  40  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  left,  A.  H.  Wyant 


and  sequence  of  values.  TKere  is  no  surface  tkat  is 
flat.  All  of  tke  values  lead  to  tke  point  of  focal  cons 
centrationm  the  centre  of  tke  dark  tree.  Here  tke  eye 
finds  re^.  In  consequence,  altkougk  tke  motive  is 
expressive  of  ckange  and  adtion,  we  kave  a  perfecft  ad? 
jusltment  and  balance  wkick  creates  repose  in  ckange. 
Tkis  greater  insi^ence  on  values  wkick  made  tke  mass 
more  important  tkan  tke  part,  tke  sense  of  solidity  and 
weigkt  more  important  tkan  tke  superficial  surface, 
resulted  in  tke  more  sugge^ive  treatment  of  form. 
Furtkermore  tke  eye  being  attracted  at  tke  point  of 
focal  concentration,  tke  fartker  tke  objedls  are  re? 
moved  from  tkis  centre,  tke  more  indi^indl  tkey  be* 
come.  Tke  impression  gained  is  not  one  of  absolute 
form,  and  Wy ant  was  more  and  more  governed  by  im? 
pressions.  Tkis  refradlion  and  softening  of  tke  edges 
creates  an  illusion  of  atmospkeric  ""envelope"  wkere 
all  tkings  are  seen  batked  in  air  and  ligkt.  A  friend  of 
Wyant's,  in  skowing  kim  a  pkotograpk  of  trees  in 
wkick  tke  outline  was  somewkat  blurred,  remarked: 
''Tke  pkotograpker  apologized  for  tke  pkotograpk  by 
saying  tkat  tke  wind  ruffled  tke  leaves  of  tke  trees  and 
spoiled  tke  result."  To  wkick  Wyant  replied  ''You 
teU  your  friend  wken  ke  takes  anotker  pkotograpk 
to  kave  tke  wind  blow  just  a  Httle  bit  more.  " 

Closely  associated  witk  tke  representation  of  tke 
effedt  of  ligkt  tkrougk  value  relation  and  refradlion,  is 
tke  added  consideration  of  pigment  quaHty.  In  cons 
tra;^  to  tke  early  metkod  wkere  tke  paint  was  applied 
very  tkinly  W^y ant  discovered  tkat  wken  tke  pigment 


47 


is  used  more  freely  it  produces  a  greater  sense  of  sol* 
idity,  also  tKatit  tends  to  sugge^  tKe  form  ratKer  tkan 
define  it,  that  tke  raised  surfaces  or  texture  of  tke  pig? 
ment  refled:  ligkt  and  create  empkasis,  and  tkat  tkrougk 
tke  proper  manipulation  of  tke  paint  it  not  only  sug* 
ge^s  tke  surface  quality  of  tke  okjedls  represented, 
kut  produces  a  pigment  film  wkick  is  a  deligkt  in  itself. 
Tkis  we  can  only  kint  at  ky  tke  name  quaUty .  He  also 
found  tkat  wken  tke  form  is  tkus  sugge^ed  it  kas 
greater  volume  and  carrying  power,  and  so  tke  effedt 
of  kis  later  pidtures  at  tke  di^ance  from  wkick  tkey 
are  to  ke  seen  is  very  carefully  and  nicely  considered. 

In  tke  ki^ory  of  painting,  Remkrandt  was  perkaps 
tke  first  to  use  texture  for  itself.  Painters  before  kim 
kad  come  to  appreciate  tke  keigktened  effedt  caused 
by  adding  more  pigment  to  tke  kigk  ligkts  and  keeping 
tke  skadowstkin,  but  tkat' 'loading"  ofpaint  to  produce 
texture,  Hgkt  and  quaUty,  was  not  practiced  kefore 
kis  time.  It  is  only  witk  tke  advent  of  tke  moderns 
tkat  we  find  it  employed  to  any  considerable  extent. 
It  plays  a  part  in  tke  more  diredl  metkod  of  painting 
adopted  by  Con^able ;  Turner  found  it  of  suck  service 
tkat  ke  often  applied  paint  witk  kis  palette  knife,  as 
likewise  Courbet  in  kis  later  landscapes ;  wkile  Dupre 
and  Monticelli  made  it  a  part  of  tkeir  formula.  Since 
tke  coming  of  tke  impressioni^s  tke  indiscriminate 
and  unintelligent  use  of  paint  is  an  accepted  convene 
tion.  Wyant  used  kis  pigment  intelHgently  and  witk 
tke  utmo^  consideration  of  its  relation  to  tke  desired 
effedt.  Texture  was  particularly  employed  to  sugge^ 

48 


the  infinite  forms  of  the  foreground  and  to  give  to  it 
the  proper  accent  to  make  it  come  forward,  as  on  the 
high  hghts  of  heavy  cloud  forms  to  give  proper  lumis 
nosity  and  sub^ance  as  contra^ed  to  their  smoother 
and  more  etherial  background.  His  knowledge  of 
facts  and  form  never  allowed  this  usage  to  degenerate 
into  an  unexpressive  and  insignificant  mannerism. 
The  brush  had  always  the  guiding  intelligence  behind 
it,  the  vision  of  the  effect  to  be  produced. 

Technique  is  satisfying  when  we  feel  that  the  hand 
is  ever  ready  to  obey  the  artistic  impulse  or  intention 
and  is  the  means  of  clearly  expressing  the  thought. 
We  have  become  accu^omed  in  our  own  day  to  think 
of  it  as  an  end  in  itself,  and  in  consequence  have  seen 
much  brilliant  brushwork.  This  indicates  a  lack  of 
thought  and  purpose.  It  is  as  if  one  were  using  fine 
words  and  phrases  to  hide  one's  intelledlual  deficiency. 
The  more  the  work  of  art  depends  for  its  intere^ 
on  the  execution,  precisely  does  it  become  limited  in 
significance  and  more  personal  in  the  sense  of  some? 
thing  peculiar  to  the  arti^.  This  peculiarity  often 
masquerades  under  the  name  of  force,  virility  and 
originality.  It  is  concerned  chiefly  with  large  brushes 
and  much  paint.  The  technique  of  the  great  maimers 
of  the  past  does  not  display  or  parade  itself,  but  is  un- 
der full  control  of  the  painter,  who  is  able  to  conceal 
it,  while  giving  expression  to  his  message;  in  the  same 
sense  that  an  adlor,  ma^er  of  his  art,  so  conceals  it, 
that  we  think  only  of  the  charadler  he  impersonates. 

V/yant  was  happily  free  from  affedlation.  His 


49 


teclimquegrewgradually  andnaturally,  asKis  tKougKt 
developed,  and  ke  was  always  capable  of  expressing 
Kis  thought.  There  is  no  evidence  of  superficial  dex? 
terity  in  his  painting,  no  endeavor  at  brilliancy  of 
technique  or  cleverness  of  handHng.  He  does  not 
try  to  impress  one  with  his  knowledge  or  skill.  Yet 
his  brush  is  always  adlive,  aUve  and  expressive.  Als 
though  working  in  a  low  key  with  neutraHzed  colors, 
he  never  produced  a  muddy  or  unanimated  surface. 
His  brush  worked  rapidly  from  palette  to  canvas,  ah 
ways  refreshing  itself.  He  used  small  brushes.  Being 
intere^ed  in  the  diffused  and  vibrant  effedls  of  light 
he  seldom  created  a  flat  surface.  He  is  essentially  a 
painter  of  easel  pidlures,  pictures  to  be  seen  within 
the  normal  di^ance  of  a  room.  Before  the  days  ofin. 
tense  competition  for  wall  space  in  exhibitions ,  he  was 
never  tempted  to  paint  a  ^artling  pidture  to  attradt  the 
eye  across  a  great  gallery.  There  is  nothing  about  his 
work  savouring  in  any  way  of  the  sensational  and  in 
this  it  was  a  natural  part  of  himself.  His  pictures  are 
intimate.  They  do  not  cry  for  one's  attention,  but 
having  gained  it  they  hold  it. 

Wyant  used  a  very  simple  palette.  Mo^  of  his 
schemes  were  produced  with  comparatively  few  cols 
ors.  Black  and  white,  permanent  blue,  yellow  ochre, 
burnt  sienna,  raw  sienna  and  light  red  were  in  con? 
^ant  use.  Occasionally  we  see  touches  of  emeraude 
or  of  cadmium  to  intensify  a  green.  In  regard  to  blues 
he  remarked:  ''Give  me  permanent  blue  and  I  will 
make  you  any  blue  you  want.''   One  is  inclined  to 

50 


tkink  of  a  colori^  as  using  a  very  extensive  palette, 
and  creating  kisKarmonies  witK  powerful  and  intense 
colors.  TKis  might  possibly  apply  to  the  greater  of 
colori^s,  of  whom  tkere  are  few.  V/ken  we  mention 
Titian,  Rubens,  Turner,  or  Delacroix  and  Monticelli, 
we  hesitate  for  others.  There  have  been  few  who 
could  run  the  gamut  of  the  palette  without  producing 
incongruous  and  unrelated  colors.  Beauty  of  color 
does  not  depend  on  intensity  but  on  harmony.  As  cons 
traced  to  the  figure  painter  who  employs  at  pleasure 
different  colors  in  his  costumes,  background  and  ac? 
cessories,  the  landscape  painter  is  confined  to  the  mod* 
erated  and  less  defined  colors  of  nature.  The  Dutch? 
men  being  intere:^ed  particularly  in  form,  worked 
almoi^t  in  monotone;  Con^able  preferring  cloudy  days 
saw  nature  in  sombre  garb;  while  Corot  intere^ed  in 
design  and  values  worked  with  a  very  re^ridled  pal? 
ette.  Yet  all,  if  not  briUiant  colori^s,  were  extremely 
sensitive  to  color.  It  is  in  this  sense  that \Vy ant  may 
be  considered  a  di^inguished  colori^.  If  in  his  early 
work  his  color  is  rather  unintere^ing  and  conven? 
tional,  as  he  developed,  his  choice  and  arrangement  of 
colors  became  more  personal  and  pronounced.  At  no 
time,  however,  did  he  indulge  in  ^rong  contra^s  or 
play  with  color  for  its  charm  alone,  V/ith  Inness,  for 
in:^ance,  color  was  a  medium  with  which  to  express 
passion  and  emotion.  His  effedls  change  from  the 
^orm  drama  to  the  vigor  and  briUiancy  of  sunset;  the 
powerful  contra^s  of  autumn  or  the  deUcate  ambient 
atmosphere  of  spring.    No  landscape  painter  ever 


pidtured  a  greater  range  of  subjedt  or  expressed  more 
various  moods.  But  V/yant  preferred  tke  more  sub* 
dued  efFedts  of  nature.  His  inter e:^  was  in  the  subtle 
relations  of  ligbt  and  dark.  Mo^  of  his  pidlures  rep* 
resent  effedls  in  grays.  He  was  particularly  sensitive 
to  neutral  colors  precisely  because  he  was  intere^ed 
in  problems  of  light  as  seen  in  value  relations.  His 
colors  were  as  the  bark  of  the  trees,  the  gray  of  the 
moss,  of  the  rocks,  of  mountain  breams,  colors  of 
the  things  he  loved  so  well.  He  hardly  ever  attempted 
sunhght.  To  introduce  sunlight  was  but  to  change 
the  colors  so  surpassingly  beautiful.  Color  was  too 
decidedly  emotional  for  his  weak  nerves,  too  blatant, 
too  evident,  too  ^rong.  His  mood  was  refledlive, 
c|uiet,  serene,  pensive.  This  intere^  in  chiaroscuro, 
this  expression  in  light  and  shadow,  became  the  doms 
inant  theme  of  the  painter.  It  was  his  limitation  and 
his  ^rength.  His  ^rength  because  he  worked  with* 
in  a  given  limitation. 

In  his  later  work  ^Vyant  is  a  great  tonali^.  I  speak 
of  tone  as  that  harmonious  effedt  or  ''ensemble"  pro* 
duced  when  various  colors  unite  and  form  a  dominant 
color  chord.  I  use  the  musical  phraseology  for  it  is  anal* 
agous  to  the  combination  of  notes  which  when  sounds 
ed  in  unison  create  an  harmonious  tone.  To  produce 
this  effect  he  not  only  brought  to  his  aid  the  use  of  jux? 
taposed  or  ''broken"  color,  texture,  and  pigment  quals 
ity,  but  he  added  what  is  technically  known  as  the 
"scumble"  and  the  "glaze."  The  glaze  is  the  means  of 
applying  color  with  a  vehicle,  generally  linseed  oil,  and 


5^ 


thinning  it  to  suck  an  extent  that  it  becomes  transpar* 
ent.  The  scumble  is  a  semi?transparent  glaze.  It  is 
apparent  that  in  this  manner  of  painting,  colors  can 
be  produced  which  can  be  made  in  no  other  way. 
Thus  a  transparent  blue  glazed  over  a  yellow  which 
has  been  allowed  to  dry,  produces  a  green  quite  differs 
ent  from  that  which  is  obtained  by  simply  intermix* 
ing  the  two  colors.  We  get  a  more  luminous  and  a 
richer  color.  This  method  was  employed  by  the  old 
makers,  and  accounts  for  much  that  is  beautiful  in 
their  coloring.  V/ith  the  advent  of  impressionism  the 
painter  f^und  that  contra^ing  colors  placed  side  by 
side  produced  from  a  di^ance  the  effect  of  colors  in? 
termixed,  but  with  an  added  vibration.  Yet  before 
them  arti;^s  had  made  richness,  brilliancy,  and  vibra* 
tion  a  part  of  their  result  by  allowing  the  under  color 
to  be  seen  through  and  modify  the  surface  color. 
Moreover  the  under  color  always  being  lighter,  added 
to  the  luminosity  of  the  effect.  This  method  is  parties 
ularly  happy  in  colors  of  the  lower  and  middle  scale, 
for  it  is  in  this  range  of  the  palette  that  the  colors  are 
mo^  potent  and  powerful.  As  applied  to  landscape 
painting,  where  the  colors  are  less  pronounced  and 
where  one  tone  tends  to  dominate  the  scheme,  a  glaze 
of  uniform  color  was  often  placed  over  the  entire  cans 
vas.  Inness  who  was  always  experimenting  with 
color,  and  who  used  it  for  its  emotional  charm,  rather 
than  its  purely  reaU^ic  significance,  produced  mo^ 
of  his  fine^  color  harmonies  through  indirect  painting 
eind  the  use  of  transparent  color.  And  in  this  respect 


53 


V/yant  was  influenced  by  Inness.  Never  striving  for 
powerful  and  dramatic  effects,  or  for  tke  pure  beauty 
of  color  in  itself,  as  did  Inness,  it  Kowever  brought  to 
bis  pictures  a  greater  deptb  and  warmtb,  and  an  added 
beauty.  The  result  we  see  in  many  beautiful  pictures, 
wbicb  make  Wy ant's  works  wben  bung  witb  tbe 
greater  works  of  tbe  pa^,  seem  to  be  in  kindred  com? 
pany .  Mo^  of  tbem  are  of  very  mode:^  dimensions, 
but  we  see  in  tbem  tbe  expression  of  repose  and  re? 
finement,  tbat  subtle  essence  of  tbe  soul  wbicb  does 
not  depend  on  time  and  place  and  is  not  governed 
by  dimension.  Of  tbe  larger  canvases,  one  in  wbicb 
tbe  painter  seems  to  bave  reacbed  tbe  complete  fulfils 
ment  of  bis  purpose  is  tbe  ''"Early  Morning"  now  in 
tbe  collection  of  Mr.  Emerson  MacMillan.  It  is  one 
of  tbe  great  landscapes  of  tbe  nineteenth  century, 
worthy  to  rank  with  the  be^  work  of  the  Barbizon 
makers,  tbe  tradition  of  which  it  so  nobly  and  rightly 
continues.  The  thought,  the  sentiment,  the  feeUng  of 
the  arti^  has  been  expressed  in  a  most  deHcate  but 
compelling  manner.  The  eternal  brooding  and  mys? 
tery  of  nature,  silence,  peace  and  serenity,  speak  in 
illusive  but  significant  language.  There  is  no  indica? 
tion  of  tbe  presence  or  man,  yet  the  tree  stands  as  a 
solemn,  brooding  soul,  looking  out  upon  time  and 
eternity.  It  is  not  merely  tbe  ocular  vision  which  the 
painter  has  portrayed,  it  is  not  alone  the  beauty  of  na? 
ture  with  which  he  has  been  inspired,  it  is  that  inner 
communion  and  reflection  of  man,  the  pensive  dream? 
cr,  who  searches  the  soul  for  the  inner  meaning,  and 


54 


LANDSCAPE 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  ARTHUR  J.  SECOR 
Canvas.    26  inches  high,  40  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


DRIVING  MIST 

Canvas.    26  inches  high,  40  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


IllB 


talks  in  Kis  own  language  witk  tKe  maker  of  all  tkings. 
A  mere  sentiment  ?  Yes,  if  you  please  ?  But  that  sen? 
timent  of  reverence,  respect  and  worship  witk  wKicK 
all  great  art  is  imbued. 

In  tliis  picture  we  see  the  best  elements  of  Wyant's 
early  work  combined  and  blended  with  Kis  mature 
thought  and  feeling.  The  construction  shows  the  re* 
suit  of  that  intimate  knowledge  of  nature  gained  only 
by  constant  study,  yet  kept  subservient  to  the  aomis 
nant  pictorial  motive.  It  combines  naturalistic  form 
and  color  with  that  decorative  and  more  abstract  ars 
rangement  which  concerns  itself  with  order,  balance 
and  the  proper  relative  attention  given  to  each  ele? 
ment  of  the  subject.  In  Japanese  art  one  of  the  cars 
dinal  rules  is  formulated  in  the  curious  phrase  Heav? 
en,  earth  and  man.  '  ■  This,  when  explained,  means 
that  the  picture  should  have  a  dominant  theme  or  at* 
traction,  a  supplementary  adjunct  or  echo  ofthe  main 
theme,  and  a  punctuation  in  the  accessories,  adding  a 
human  touch.  In  short  everything  apart  from  the 
main  motive  should  be  related  and  subordinated  to  it. 
This  we  find  very  beautifully  and  sensitively  accom? 
plished  in  this  picture.  The  eye  is  compelled  to  feel 
the  stately  beauty  ofthe  tree,  the  friendly  association 
of  other  trees,  and  the  awakening  day,  with  the  great 
breathing  space  of  open  country  beyond.  The  mod? 
eling  of  the  tree  is  marvelous,  made  apparent  not  only 
by  correct  drawing  but  by  so  arranging  the  Ughting 
that  one  feels  in  this  limited  flat  surface,  its  height,  its 
continuation  upwards,  its  roundness  and  its  firm  and 


55 


solid  kold  upon  tke  eartk.  It  is  an  individual  tree,  a 
portrait,  and  yet  it  stands  as  a  type.  It  kas  taken 
many  years  to  grow,  kut  kas  won  its  way  to  ligkt  and 
kfe  and  proudly  kut  silently  maintains  itself.  It  is  not 
alone  tke  naturalist  or  tke  painter  tkat  speaks.  Tkey 
are  united  in  tke  poet. 

It  is  tkis  feekng  wkick  makes  landscape  kuman, 
and  gives  an  added  ckarm  to  its  naturali^ic  and  decs 
orative  elements.  We  find  it  in  mo^  of  tke  later 
pidlures  of  Wyant.  \Vkat  keautiful  sugge^ion  and 
poetic  inspiration  tkere  is  in  tke  pidlure  '""A  GUmpse 
of  tke  Sea",  one  of  tke  smaller  examples  in  tke  Met^ 
ropoktan  Museum.  Here  we  see  muck  tkougkt  witk* 
m  kttle  space.  Tke  color  of  tke  landscape  is  rick, 
warm  and  sukdued.  It  skows  an  inroad  from  tke  sea, 
on  eitker  side  of  wkick  are  dark,  pidluresque  trees 
leading  tke  eye  to  tke  keautiful  sky  keyond.  Wyant 
often  remarked  tkat  tke  key  to  a  landscape  was  in 
tke  sky.  If  one  could  paint  a  sky  ke  could  paint  a 
landscape.  Tkisisintere^ing  tonote,  not  only  kecause 
it  indicates  tke  essential  relation  of  land  and  sky,  kut 
kecause  it  skows  kow  muck  tke  painter  was  inter* 
ei^ed  in  sky  forms  and  tkeir  my^erious  sugge^ion. 
In  fact,  we  migkt  say  tkat  in  mo^  of  V/yant's  finest 
pictures  it  is  tke  sky  tkat  is  of  dominant  interest,  tkat 
indicates  tke  spiritual  state  of  tke  painter;  and  tkat  tke 
landscape  serves  as  a  keautiful  foil  or  frame  to  kring 
out  its  suktle  and  illusive  gradations.  It  also  gives  to 
kis  pictures  a  great  sense  of  expanse  and  vastness. 
Tkougk  most  of  tke  landscapes  are  small  in  size  tkey 

5fe 


are  invariably  full  of  feeling  and  big  in  effect. 

This  sense  of  distance  and  expanse,  of  tke  gran, 
deur  of  nature,  is  perhaps,  more  forcibly  expressed  in 
the  art  of  landscape  painting  than  in  any  other  me* 
dium  of  expression.  It  gives  to  landscape  a  decided? 
ly  religious  significance.  Apart  from  the  idea  that 
nature  is  associated  with  the  Creator  of  all  things, 
and  is  imbued  with  vital  and  living  impulse,  we  feel 
in  her  presence  a  certain  sense  of  reverence,  awe  and 
mystery.  \Ve  are  impressed  by  the  growth  of  things, 
the  change  of  seasons,  the  wind,  the  clouds,  the  com? 
ing  of  night,  but  above  all,  those  vistas  over  vast 
stretches  of  country  that  give  a  glimpse  of  the  he- 
yond.  It  seems  as  new  life  for  the  soul,  a  larger  room 
in  which  it  may  expand.  Shut  up  in  a  walled  city, 
man  craves  the  expanse  of  nature.  '  '^Vithout  a  vision 
the  people  perish. '  '  And  to  man  the  neavens  and  a 
glimpse  of  rolling  country  seems  like  a  vision,  a  sym? 
bol,  teaching  him  to  go  on  into  the  world  unexplored. 

In  '■'A  Sunlit  Vale"  which  we  illustrate,  from  the 
collection  of  Mr.  H.  H.  Benedict,  this  feeHng  for  space 
and  atmosphere,  for  the  grandeur  of  nature,  is  very 
wonderfully  expressed.  We  look  from  the  shadow 
of  a  dark,  sloping  mountain=side  to  the  sunHt  valley 
and  distant  mountain  range  beyond.  Over  all  is  the 
spirit  of  change,  of  fast  fleeting  sunlight  and  shadow. 
The  sky  is  remarkably  fine  in  its  rendering  of  atmos? 
pheric  perspective  and  change  of  aerial  planes.  It 
does  not  seem  to  stop  at  the  frame,  but  we  feel  its  great 
expanse  soaring  heavenward  to  the  zenith  and  around. 


57 


In  tKe  collection  of  Ex?Senator  William  A.  Clark, 
Wyant's  picture,  ''Morning  at  Neversink"  Kangs 
over  an  example  by  Rousseau.  It  sKows  a  resemble 
ance  and  a  difference.  Tke  Rousseau  is  nearer  Ruis? 
dael.  TKe  forms  of  tke  landscape  are  absolute.  Noth? 
ing  is  undecided  or  suggested.  TKe  objects  become 
less  important  as  tbey  recede,  following  tke  natural 
law  of  perspective,  giving  tke  illusion  of  distance, 
tkrougk  proportion;  but  tke  problem  of  Kgkt,  atmos? 
pkere  and  aerial  perspective  is  not  fully  considered. 
Tkis  is  one  of  tke  essential  differences  between 
Wyant  and  Rousseau.  \Vyant  added  to  tke  structure 
al  representation  of  nature,  ligkt  and  atmospkeric 
envelopment.  It  was  tkis  striving  for  Kgkt  and  exs 
panse  tkat  took  Wyant  away  from  absolute  form 
and  brougkt  to  kis  work  greater  suggestion  and  free? 
dom  of  kandling.  W^yant  in  tkis  respect  is  an  impor? 
tant  knk  between  tke  earlier  sckool  and  tke  later 
impressionists.  Altkougk  ke  never  worked  in  tke 
vibrant  sunligkt  colors  of  tke  moderns,  kis  problem 
was  nevertkeless  largely  concerned  witk  Kgkt,  and 
kis  dekcate  and  sensitive  brusk  was  decidedly  adapted 
to  tkis  elusive  study.  He  was  too  faitkful  a  draugkts^ 
man  to  neglect  tke  relative  size  of  objects  as  tkey 
recede,  but  kis  effect  of  perspective  is  given  more 
tkrougk  relative  values  tkan  absolute  proportions. 
Tkis  is  clearly  indicated  in  tke  picture  under  consid? 
eration.  Tke  delicate  gradations  of  ligkt  as  tkey  grad? 
ually  diminisk  into  tke  skadow  create  a  most  alluring 
and  mysterious  ckarm,  and  give  one  tke  languid  sense 

58 


of  a  lowery  day.  Tke  figure  seems  unnecessary.  The 
spectator  is  the  natural  figure  of  tke  landscape,  as  he 
stands  upon  the  summit  and  looks  into  the  distance, 
fascinated  by  its  charm. 

This  romantic  interest  in  the  sky,  and  the  subtle 
charm  of  distance,  induced  V/yant,  in  most  of  his 
pictures,  to  place  the  horizon  line  below  the  centre  of 
the  canvas ,  Although  in  looking  towards  the  distance 
we  appreciate  the  flatness  of  the  land,  the  expanse  of 
sky  and  the  trees  rising  high  in  the  composition  at  once 
give  a  sense  of  height  and  dignity  to  his  conception. 
This  is  clearly  illustrated  in  the  ''Landscape"  from 
the  collection  of  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Secor.  The  composis 
tion  is  extremely  simple  but  impressive.  The  division 
of  the  canvas,  the  space  relation  of  Ught  and  dark, 
through  its  perfect  harmony  and  balance,  gives  one  a 
mysterious  sense  of  the  absolute.  It  has  a  static  balance 
without  rigidity.  This  is  due  to  the  subtle  sense  of 
rhythm  and  action  that  plays  about  the  upright  div* 
ision.  The  proportion  of  the  canvas  being  approxi? 
mately  two  by  three,  the  horizontal  division  is  placed 
appreciably  below  the  centre.  This  is  intercepted  at 
right  angles  by  a  tall,  graceful  tree.  Its  exact  position 
in  the  foreground  and  as  it  breaks  the  horizon,  is  so 
nicely  and  absolutely  calculated,  that  it  could  not  be 
changed  in  the  slightest  degree  without  injuring  the 
subtle  balance  of  the  whole.  It  produces  a  sense  of 
equilibrium  and  finality.  This  upright  division  is 
echoed  by  the  trees  to  the  right,  and  the  smaller  ones 
in  the  distance  to  the  left.  The  action  is  introduced  by 


59 


the  foreground  rocks  giving  a  direction  to  tKe  right, 
witk  a  parallel  repetition  suggested  by  tke  water  to 
tKe  left.  Tke  ligKt  breaking  tbrougb  tbe  trees  relieves 
tbeir  rigidity  and  in  keeping  tbe  eye  from  going  out  of 
tbe  canvas  directs  it  toward  tbe  centre  of  tbe  picture. 
Tbis  is  again  repeated  to  tbe  left,  tbe  eye  being  drawn 
to  tbe  small  trees  breaking  tbe  borizon  and  tben  taken 
towards  tbe  centre  by  tbe  cloud  forms  above.  Tbe 
centre  of  balance  falls  precisely  in  tbe  middle  of  tbe 
picture. 

In  tbe  mountains  sudden  cbanges  of  weatber  are 
frequent  and  tbe  sky  is  ever  clouded  and  changing. 
Tbis  gives  a  wonderful  opportunity  to  study  cloud? 
forms  and  to  follow  tbeir  rbytbmic  action.  It  was 
an  absorbing  study  and  tbe  painter  would  watcb  for 
bours  together  their  ever  varying  shapes  and  colors. 

Wyant  very  happily  differentiated  tbe  ethereal  ex? 
panse  from  tbe  solid  land.  His  skies  are  not  limited 
by  the  size  of  the  canvas  or  tbe  brush  stroke.  He  was 
a  great  master  of  aerial  perspective  and  deUgbted  in 
the  receding  cloud  stratas.  Thus  he  would  bring  out 
three  or  four  different  planes,  ending  almost  always 
with  a  touch  of  neutral  blue,  indicating  tbe  constant 
realm  beyond.  Sky  painting  depends  greatly  on  tbe 
proper  arrangement  of  the  clouds.  It  is  a  most  impor? 
tant  element  in  composition.  The  most  carefully  ren? 
dered  forms  can  appear  entirely  out  of  place  if  not 
properly  related.  It  is  a  part  of  tbe  genius  of  Wyant 
that  the  sky  always  belongs  to  tbe  landscape.  It  not 
only  indicates  through  its  form  and  color  the  season, 

60 


THE  END  OF  SUMMER 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  E.  P.  EARLE 
Canvas.    28  inches  high,  35  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


the  kind  and  time  of  day,  but  tlirough  its  arrangement 
and  movement  responds  to  the  leading  lines  of  tke 
landscape  and  brings  out  the  painter's  more  subtle  in* 
tentions. 

The  clouds,  too,  cast  their  shadows  over  the  lands 
scape,  and  this  gives  an  additional  opportunity  to  in? 
troduce  the  gradations  and  contrasts  of  light  and 
dark,  of  which  the  artist  was  so  fond.  The  simplest 
scenes  are  made  significant  though  chiarascuro.  This 
is  amply  illustrated  in  many  ofW yant's  canvases.  In 
the  '""End  of  Summer,"  owned  by  Mr.  E.  P.  Earle, 
for  instance,  we  look  from  the  clearing  to  the  edge  of 
a  wood  on  the  left.  Over  the  first  plane  is  a  note  of 
flat  meadow,  and  the  distant  wooded  country.  A  SUDS 
ject  which  without  the  wonderful  sky  and  the  cloud 
shadows  would  be  pleasing  enough  in  its  proper  space 
relations,  but  commonplace.  Wyant  has  made  of  it  a 
poem  of  the  great  outsofdoors.  We  feel  the  shadow 
so  ftly  caressing  the  land,  moving  onward,  and  the 
light  following  closely,  never  to  be  eluded.  The  eye 
is  concentrated  on  the  upright  tree  in  the  centre,  ter* 
mmatmg  the  woods .  It  gives  that  sense  of  height  and 
nobility,  of  a  soaring  upwards,  which  we  find  in  so 
many  ofhis  pictures.  This  is  emphasized  by  the  cloud 
shadows,  which  touching  the  edge  of  the  wood  give 
an  effective  and  striking  contract  to  the  light  cloud; 
forms  beyond.  The  little  bush  to  the  right  repeats  the 
intention  and  makes  a  static  note  where  the  eye  finds 
rest.  The  right  angle  formed  by  the  trees  against  the 
first  plane,  at  once  gives  a  note  of  solidity  through  res 


sistance.  TKe  korizontal  line  is  broken  by  the  roof  of 
a  bouse  peeping  over  tbe  bill,  wbicb  tends  to  bold  tbe 
attention  toward  tbe  center,  and  also  by  tbe  dark  note 
of  tbe  busbes  wbicb  keeps  tbe  eye  from  going  out  of 
tbe  picture.  Observe  too  tbe  cloud  sbadow  in  tbe 
rigbt  foreground;  bow  it  leads  one  into  tbe  picture  to 
tbe  ligbt,  is  given  direction  as  it  moves  on  towards 
tbe  bouse,  and  tben  turned  again  to  tbe  center  by  tbe 
note  of  a  ligbt  rock.  Tbe  dark  cloud  over  tbe  upper 
corner,  again  directs  tbe  attention  towards  tbe  point 
of  focal  concentration.  But  all  of  tbis  is  done  so  grace* 
fully  and  naturally  tbat  it  makes  one  wander  over 
tbe  landscape  and  follow  tbe  play  of  ligbt  and  sbad? 
ow,  tbrougbly  unconscious  of  tbe  painter's  subtle 
direcftion. 

V/yant's  pictures  are  re^ful;  tbe  space  relation  of 
Hgbt  and  dark  is  balanced;  tbe  rbytbmic  movement 
plays  about  a  fixed  center.  He  was  not  so  successful 
in  rendering  tbe  more  dramatic  effedls  of  nature,  and 
in  avoiding  tbem  be  sbowed  an  under  landing  of  bis 
limitations.  For  a  time  Wyant  occupied  a  ^udio  ad? 
joining  tbat  of  Inness.  But  altbougb  always  a  great 
admirer  of  Inness's  work,  be  found  bis  influence  and 
powerful  personality  taking  bim  away  from  bis  own 
more  gentle  and  lyric  muse.    He  cbanged  bis  ^udio. 

Altbougb  \Vyant's  cbaradli^ic  mood  is  pensive 
and  quiet,  yet  occasionally,  being  moved  by  a  tran* 
sient  and  impressive  pbase  of  nature,  be  would  under 
its  immediate  influence,  reproduce  it  witb  great  vir? 
ility  and  intensity.   Tbis  is  ^ikingly  exempUfied  in 

62 


his  picture  ''"Driving  Mi^s."  It  is  a  fleeting  effect  of 
wind,  and  moi^ure  laden  clouds,  flying  over  a  deso* 
late  mountain  country,  tKe  scraggly  windblown  tree 
and  busKes  bending  witK  the  ^orm.  It  is  a  notable 
example  ofadlion,  and  one  adlually  feels  a  physical  res 
sponse  to  the  power  of  the  wind,  as  it  is  indicated  by 
the  compelling  movement  of  the  clouds  and  the  re? 
peated  line  in  the  landscape.  V/e  mu^  note  also  that 
rare  record  of '■'"Moonlight"  in  the  Hearn  collection, 
painted  from  an  impression  at  Arkville  while  driving 
in  company  with  several  arti^s.  Wyant  was  in  ex? 
cellent  humor  at  the  time,  and  laughed  with  childish 
glee  to  the  singing  of  a  popular  topical  song.  It  was  a 
cool  fall  evening.  The  smoke  from  a  passing  train 
hung  in  the  moi^ure  laden  air,  and  gave  to  the  color 
that  wonderful  effect  which  he  has  so  faithfully  trans 
scribed. 

If  to  these  pictures  he  brought  a  felicitous  form  and 
a  facile  touch,  there  are  others  that  show  too  appar? 
ently  the  druggie  in  their  making,  where  the  thought 
has  been  too  vague,  or  has  not  found  a  fitting  pictorial 
expression .  But  that  very  struggle,  which  marks  these 
pictures  with  deep  Hnes  of  indecision  and  trouble, 
shows  the  painter  who  is  not  merely  content  to  repeat 
past  performances,  but  is  ever  seeking  a  fuller  and 
more  complete  expression. 


63 


PART  FIVE 


THE  Studies  and  sketckes  of  Wyant  altKougK  so 
muck  a  part  of  tKe  pictures,  and  so  necessary  to 
tKeir  complete  realization,  must  be  considered  some? 
wKat  separately.  TKeyare  tKe  notes  and  facts  wkich 
Ke  collected  for  Kis  information,  yet  many  are  beauti? 
ful  and  perfect  in  themselves.  We  speak  of  tkem  as 
studies  and  sketches,  because  we  wish  to  differentiate 
between  two  different  kinds  of  records.  TKe  studies 
were  made  for  the  facts;  tbe  sketckes  for  tke  effect; 
tke  one  constant,  tke  otker  fleeting.  Tke  painters  of 
tke  present  time  are  apt  to  make  only  tke  latter.  In 
consequence  we  see  in  tkeir  finisked  results  a  unity 
of  effect  as  regards  kgkting  and  color,  but  often  tke 
lack  of  tkat  knowledge  of  construction,  wkick  results 
from  tke  former.  Tke  painters  of  today  seek  color. 
\Vyant  was  more  interested  in  form.  Since  tke  ad^ 
vent  of  tke  impressionists  we  prefer  tke  illusive  and 
ckangeable  colors  of  sunUgkt  and  tkeir  various  rela- 
tions and  effects,  one  upon  tke  otker ;  but  W^yant  pre? 
ferred  tke  skad  ow  and  tke  softer  ligkt,  precisely  be? 
cause  it  brougkt  out  form  and  local  color.  His  studies 
are  made  witk  tkat  tender  love  of  nature  for  itself, 
witkout  wkick  suck  close  and  concentrated  effort 
would  be  impossible.  If  in  kis  typical  pictures  ke  is  a 
reakst  imbued  witk  romantic  feeling,  in  kis  studies  ke 
is  entirely  a  naturalist.  Order  and  beauty  of  arrange? 
ment,  tke  expression  of  tke  effect  of  nature  upon  tke 
consciousness  of  man,  is  entirely  absent  in  kis  studies. 
Here  tke  artist  kas  completely  forgotten  kimself. 

64 


SUNSET 

COLLECTION  OF  MR.  W.  A.  WHITE 
Canvas.    10  inches  high,  14  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


AUTUMN  IN  THE  ADIRONDACKS 
COLLECTION  OF  MR.  BURTON  MANSFIELD 
Canvas.    18  inches  high,  24  inches  wide.    Signed  at  the  lower  right,  A.  H.  Wyant 


Absorbed  in  nature,  be  wisbes  not  to  render  bis  men* 
tal  mood,  but  to  impersonally  represent  tbe  subjedl 
before  bim.  He  cares  not  for  tbe  impression  or  tbe 
unity  of  effect.  He  is  not  tbinking  of  pictorial  compo* 
sition  or  tbe  cbarm  of  cbiaroscuro.  He  wisbes  to 
portray  as  faitbfully  as  possible  tbe  beauty  of  nature's 
constant  and  eternal  forms.  Even  tbe  cbarm  of  atmos* 
pberic  perspective  and  distance,  wbicb  witb  bim 
was  so  irresistible,  is  entirely  forgotten.  Tbe  tricks 
of  picture?making  are  tbrown  overboard.  He  is  one 
of  tbose  passionate  worsbippers,  recurring  tbrougb? 
out  tbe  ages,  wbo  see  perfection  in  nature.  Tbe  rock 
becomes  tbe  subjedt  of  a  portrait  as  careful  and  exad: 
as  a  buman  likeness  by  Holbein.  Tbese  ^udies  are 
small  in  size  and  minute  in  rendering.  Able  to  tbe 
last  degree  in  tecbnical  efficiency,  tbe  bandling  is 
never  picayune  or  tigbt.  It  is  easy,  graceful  and  fluent. 
Not  painted  for  tbe  public  purse,  tbey  bave  nevers 
tbeless  found  destinations  among  different  people  by 
wbom  tbey  are  greatly  treasured.  Most  of  us,  wbo 
bave  become  so  accustomed  to  tbe  startling  and  biz? 
arre,  pass  tbem  by  unnoticed.  But  for  tbe  lover  of 
nature  tbese  Uttle  studies  will  always  be  a  deligbt. 

In  tbe  sketcbes  ^iVyant  is  concerned  witb  tbe  im? 
pression.  If  in  tbe  studies  we  observe  tbe  constant 
trutbs  of  nature,  bere  we  bave  but  tbe  suggestion  of  a 
fleeting  effect.  It  is  difficult  to  find  tbe  same  painter  in 
botb.  Tbe  ^udies  are  careful,  conscious,  precise  and 
metbodical;  tbe  sketcbes  are  flowing,  spontaneous, 
instinctive  and  free.  Tbe  brusbwork  and  metbod  are 


adapted  to  tKe  different  requirements.  Effects  change 
rapidly.  Direct  painting  is  necessitated.  To  tkose 
who  find  the  studies  pkotograpKic  and  over^elabor? 
ated  the  sketches  are  a  revelation.  To  Wyant,  hows 
ever,  tkis  freedom  and  rapidity  of  execution  was  not 
a  part  of  a  prescribed  formula,  but  tke  outcome  of 
necessity.  Tke  tecknique  is  virile  and  significant;  tke 
bruskwork  kas  not  become  a  mannerism;  bekind  tke 
kaste  is  knowledge.  Tkis  fluency  and  vigor,  is  kow? 
ever,  not  alone  tke  result  of  quick  and  keen  observa? 
tion,  but  is  largely  due  to  understanding  and  appreci* 
ation  gatkered  from  careful,  constant  and  painstaking 
study.  We  would  prefer  tke  sketckes  today  because 
tkey  fit  into  our  accepted  convention.  Witk  Wyant 
botk  tke  sketckes  and  tke  studies  find  fulfilment  in  tke 
pictures,  tke  pictures  being  tke  combination  of  tke 
study  and  impression  of  nature  plus  tke  subjedlive  or 
contemplative  spirit  of  tke  artist.  Tkose  wko  find  it 
difficult  to  reconcile  suck  different  results,  must  see 
tkeir  answer  in  tke  finisked  work.  In  tkis  respect 
\Vyant  may  very  properly  be  kkened  to  Constable. 
In  kis  work  also  we  observe  a  marked  differentiation 
between  tke  studies  and  sketckes,  tke  former  being 
elaborate  and  precise,  tke  latter,  tke  painter's  skort? 
kand  notes,  bold  and  decisive.  Constable  particularly 
remarked  tkat  tkey  were  not  designed  for  pubkc 
view. 

Tkis  metkod  of  rapidly  recording  impressions 
W^yant  later  brougkt  to  kis  studio  work.  It  was  most 
effective  in  small  canvasses  tkat  could  be  completed 

66 


at  one  painting.  He  kad  not  tke  physical  strength  to 
carry  out  this  more  vigorous  and  impromptu  pros 
gramme  in  his  larger  pictures. 


PART  SIX 

E  mu;^  not  too  readily  conclude  that  because 
the  world  goes  around,  and  in  the  measure  of 
days,  creates  what  we  choose  to  call  time,  that  as 
a  result,  we  have  somewhat  miraculously,  what  is 
proudly  termed  progress.  Art,  which  has  to  do  with 
the  realm  of  spirit,  does  not  necessarily  follow  this 
mo^  convenient  and  consoling  conclusion. 

Today  the  world  changes  rapidly.  We  can  watch 
the  various  tendencies  and  their  effect  upon  art,  and 
note  the  results  from  year  to  year.  The  Barhizon 
movement,  and  its  influence  in  America,  is  already 
seen  in  perspective,  and  we  can  judge  somewhat  of 
its  relative  position  in  the  history  of  art. 

Chiaroscuro  is  common  to  all  the  painters  of  this 
school.  It  follows  that  tradition  which  began  with 
the  more  flexible  medium  of  oil  paint  and  its  conse* 
quent  realistic  tendencies.  It  reached  its  culmination 
in  Rembrandt,  when  it  became  a  principle  element  in 
style.  It  is  reanimated  in  Delacroix  and  Monticelli; 
united  with  Claude  in  Corot;  made  a  dramatic  ele* 
ment  in  Millet;  and  gives  to  the  pictures  of  Wyant  a 
romantic  and  lyric  charm.  He  is  on  the  same  scaffold 
but  he  builds  anew. 

In  France  the  Barbizon  painters  found  few  sue? 
cessors.   The  impressionists  and  ultra  reaHsts  were 

67 


at  once  upon  the  artistic  horizon.  Light  and  color 
were  the  absorbing  problems.  Truth  and  Art  were 
synonymous  terms. 

While  the  world  was  thus  becoming  more  mate5 
rialistic  and  art  more  realistic,  in  America  our  paint? 
ers  carried  on  the  older  tradition.  Inness,  Wyant  and 
Martin  are  its  living  monuments.  Sensitive  souls, 
to  whom  the  word  became  revealed,  it  was,  however, 
only  in  the  latter  part  of  their  life,  that  it  found  com? 
plete  expression. 

Inness  was  more  emotional  than  \Vyant.  His  ex? 
pression  responds  to  the  various  phases  of  nature  in 
calm  and  in  storm,  in  sunKght  and  in  shadow.  He 
had  a  strong  sense  of  the  dramatic,  which  in  seeking 
expression  in  visual  form,  led  to  much  experimenting. 
Each  picture  became  a  new  problem.  In  consequence 
his  work  is  more  uneven  than  Wy ant's.  Homer 
Martin  was  more  of  a  dreamer.  Not  comparable  to 
Inness  or  Wyant  as  a  painter,  he  nevertheless  ex? 
presses  something  of  the  poetry  of  the  earth  that  is 
imperishable.  In  Wyant  however  we  find  that  rare 
combination,  the  ability  to  portray  the  substance  and 
the  soul,  the  material  and  the  spiritual.  A  constant 
and  conscientious  worker,  a  keen  and  sensitive  obser? 
ver  he  added  to  painting  his  own  discoveries  in  truth, 
his  own  interpretation  of  nature.  W^e  do  not  look  to 
him  for  powerful  and  dramatic  representation.  We 
do  not  look  for  new  arrangements  of  design  or  color. 
He  had  not  the  austere  solidity  of  his  prototype 
Rousseau,  but  he  breathed  into  his  forms  a  more  sub? 


68 


tie,  serene  and  illusive  spirit,  wKicK  we  can  best  hint 
at  by  tbe  word  charm.  Associated  witk  tbe  general 
movement  of  tbe  men  of  1830,  be  must  take  his  place 
among  them  as  one  of  tbe  great  landscape  painters 
of  tbe  nineteenth  century.  Though  not  original  in 
tbe  sense  of  an  innovator,  Wyant  was  nevertheless 
very  personeil  and  individual.  His  art  was  not  found 
in  formulas,  and  school  precepts;  not  created  to  satis? 
fy  a  popular  fad  or  fancy,  but  created  out  of  sheer  ne? 
cessity  for  creation.  This  is  tbe  divine  spark  of  genius. 


69 


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